REFERENCE
1
NY PUBLIC LIBRARY THE BRANCH LIBRARIES
II I III III III I
3 3333 08119 1856
MORE ENGLISH
FAIRY TALES
rou KS^OW HOW
TO geT i^jro THIS
K^nock at the Knocker on the 'Door,
Tull the 'Bell at the side,
Then, if von arc very quiet, you will hear
a tee>!\ //>/y toice say through the grating
''Take down the Key." This you will find at the
back : you cannot mistake it, for it has J . J .
in the wards. Tut the J^/_v /// the Keyhole, which
it : :. urJ'ick the door and
Janet casts the flaming j
Sword into the Well
MORE ENGLISH
FAI RY TA LES
COLLECTED A\D EDITED 1>V
JOSEPH JACOBS
EDITOR OF "FOLK-LORE''
ILLUSTRATED BY
JOHN D. BATTEN
NEW YORK : G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
LONDON: D. NUTT
1894
V
I PI]
& \sun
'
• • •*,•«• ' ' • * *
• .•
*.:•..: : '.. •;«..
••••..• • *
::::
.«. • « «« « « c .«
•
• «•• c« (t •»*••
•• *•• • « ••••*•
[All rights reserved]
To
ZMT SON STDNST
. xin
Preface
THIS volume will come, I fancy, as a surprise both
to my brother folk-lorists and to the public in
general. It might naturally have been thought that
my former volume (English Fairy Tales, Nutt, 1889) had
almost exhausted the scanty remains of the traditional
folk-tales of England. Yet I shall be much disappointed
if the present collection is not found to surpass the former
in interest and vivacity, while for the most part it goes
over hitherto untrodden ground. The majority of the
tales in this book have either never appeared before, or
have never been brought between the same boards.
In putting these tales together, I have acted on the
same principles as in the preceding volume, which has
already, I am happy to say, established itself as a kind of
English Grimm. I have taken English tales wherever I
could find them, one from the United States, some from
the Lowland Scotch, and a few have been adapted from
ballads, while I have left a couple in their original
viii Preface
metrical form. I have re-written most of them, and in
doing so have adopted the traditional English style of
folk-telling, with its "Wells" and " Lawkamercy " and
archaic touches, which are known nowadays as vulgarisms.
From former experience, I find that each of these princi-
ples has met with some dissent from critics who have
written from the high and lofty standpoint of folk-lore, or
from the lowlier vantage of " mere literature." I take
thi- occasion to soften their ire, or perhaps give them
further cause for reviling.
My folk-lore friends look on with sadness while they
view me laying profane hands on the sacred text of my
originals. I have actually at times introduced or deleted
whole incidents, have given another turn to a tale, or
finished off one that was incomplete, while I have had no
scruple in prosing a ballad or softening down over-
abundant dialect. This is rank sacrilege in the eyes of
the rigid orthodox in matters folk-lorical. My defence
might be that I had a cause at heart as sacred as our
science of folk-lore — the filling of our children's imagina-
tions with bright trains of images. But even on the lofty
heights of folk-lore science I am not entirely defenceless.
I ' my friendly critics believe that even Campbell's
materials had not been modified by the various narrators
before they reached the great J. F. ? Why may I not
h; ve the same privilege as any other story-teller, especially
when 1 know the ways of story-telling as she is told in
Knglish, at least as well as a Devonshire or Lancashire
Preface ix
peasant ? And - - conclusive argument — wilt thou, oh
orthodox brother folk-lorist, still continue to use Grimm
and Asbjornsen ? Well, they did the same as I.
Then as to using tales in Lowland Scotch, whereat a
Saturday Reviewer, whose identity and fatherland were
not difficult to guess, was so shocked. Scots a dialect
of English ! Scots tales the same as English ! Horror
and Philistinism ! was the Reviewer's outcry. Matter of
fact, is my reply, which will only confirm him, I fear, in
his convictions. Yet I appeal to him, why make a
difference between tales told on different sides of the
Border ? A tale told in Durham or Cumberland in a
dialect which only Dr. Murray could distinguish from
Lowland Scotch, would on all hands be allowed to be
"English." The same tale told a few miles farther
North, why should we refuse it the same qualification ?
A tale in Henderson is English : why not a tale in
Chambers, the majority of whose tales are to be found
also south of the Tweed ?
The truth is, my folk-lore friends and my Saturday
Reviewer differ with me on the important problem of the
origin of folk-tales. They think that a tale probably
originated where it is found. They therefore attribute
more importance than I to the exact form in which it is
found and restrict it to the locality of birth. I consider
the probability to lie in an origin elsewhere : I think it
more likely than not that any tale found in a place was
rather brought there than born there. I have discussed
X
Preface
this matter elsewhere * with all the solemnity its import-
ance deserves, and cannot attempt further to defend my
position here. But even the reader innocent of folk-lore
can see that, holding these views, I do not attribute much
anthropological value to tales whose origin is probably
foreign, and am certainly not likely to make a hard-and-
fast division between tales of the North Countrie and
those told across the Border.
As to how English folk-tales should be told authorities
also differ. I am inclined to follow the tradition of my
old nurse, who was not bred at Girton and who scorned at
times the rules of IJndley Murray and the diction of
smart society. I have been recommended to adopt a
diction not too remote from that of the Authorised
Version. Well, quite apart from memories of my old
nurse, we have a certain number of tales actually taken
clown from the mouths of the people, and these are by
no means in Authorised form ; they even trench on the
" vulgar " -i.e., the archaic. Now there is just a touch of
snobbery in objecting to these archaisms and calling them
" vulgar." These tales have been told, if not from time
immemorial, at least for several generations, in a special
form which includes dialect and " vulgar " words. Why
desert that form for one which the children cannot so
*• See " The Science of Folk Tales and the Problem of Diffusion !'
in Truiisnctions of the International Folk-Lore Congress, 1891. Mr.
I -in- has honoured me with a rejoinder, which I regard as a palinode,
in his Preface to .Mi>s Roalfe Cox's volume of variants of Cinderella,
\ «. Ik- Lore Society, 1892 .
Preface xi
easily follow with " thous " and " werts " and all the arti-
ficialities of pseudo-Elizabethan ? Children are not
likely to say "darter" for " daughter," or to ejaculate
" Lawkamercyme " because they come across these forms
in their folk-tales. They recognise the unusual forms
while enjoying the fun of them. I have accordingly
retained the archaisms and the old-world formulae which
go so well with the folk-tale.
In compiling the present collection I have drawn on
the store of 140 tales with which I originally started ;
some of the best of these I reserved for this when making
up the former one. That had necessarily to contain the
old favourites "Jack the Giant Killer," "Dick Whitting-
ton," and the rest, which are often not so interesting or
so well told as the less familiar ones buried in perio-
dicals or folk-lore collections. But since the publication
of English Fairy Tales I have been specially fortunate in
obtaining access to tales entirely new and exceptionally
well told, which have been either published during the past
three years or have been kindly placed at my disposal by
folk-lore friends. Among these the tales reported by Mrs.
Balfour, with a thorough knowledge of the peasants' mind
and mode of speech, are a veritable acquisition. I only
regret that I have had to tone down so much of dialect
in her versions. She has added to my indebtedness to
her by sending me several tales which are entirely new
and inedited. Mrs. Gomme comes only second in rank
among my creditors for thanks which I can scarcely pay
XI 1
Preface
without becoming bankrupt in gratitude. Other friends
have been equally kind, especially Mr. Alfred Nutt, who
has helped by adapting some of the book versions, and
by reading the proofs, while to the Councils of the
American and the English Folk-Lore Societies I have
again to repeat my thanks for permission to use materials
which first appeared in their publications. Finally, I
have had ]\Ir. Batten with me once again — what should
I or other English children do without him ?
JOSEPH JACOBS.
Contents
HAGE
XI.1V. THE PIED PIPER OF FRANCHVILLE I
XLV. HEREAFTERTHIS . 7
XLVI. THE GOLDEN BALL . 12
XLVII. MY OWN SELF l6
XLVIII. THE BLACK BULL OF NORROWAY .... 2O
XLIX. YALLERY BROWN 26
L. THREE FEATHERS ........ 34
LI. SIR GAMMER VANS 39
LII. TOM HICKATHRIFT 42
LIII. THE HEDLEY KOW .... . . 50
LIV. GOBBORN SEER ......... 54
LV. LAWKAMERCYME . -59
LVI. TATTERCOATS ......... 6l
LVII. THE WEE BANNOCK ........ 66
LVIII. JOHNNY GLOKE 71
LIX. COAT O' CLAY 75
LX. THE THREE COWS ........ 82
LXI. THE BLINDED GIANT .... • &5
LXII. SCRAPEFOOT 87
LXIII. THE PEDLAR OF SWAFFHAM 91
xiv Contents
PAGE
1. XIV. THE OLD WITCH .... 94
I XV. I I IK THREE WISHES ... ... 99
I\\I. THE BURIED MOON'. . . IO2
1 .XVII. A SON OK ADAM IO9
LXVIII. THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD ... Ill
LXIX. THK HOI1YAHS . .... IlS
LXX. A POTTLE O* BRAINS . . . 125
I. XXI. THE KING OK ENGLAND AND HIS THREE SONS . 132
I XXII. KING JOHN AND THE ABBOT OF' CANTERBURY 146
I.XXIII. RUSHKN COATIE . . . 150
LXXIV. THE KING O' THE CATS . ... 156
LXXV. TAMLANE . . .... 159
LXXVI. THE STARS IN THE SKY ..... 163
I, XXVII. NEWS ! . ... l6S
LXXVIII. PUDDOCK, MOUSIE, AND RATTON ... . 170
LXX IX. THE LITTLE HULL-CALF .... . . 172
I. XXX. HIE WEE, WEE MANNIE ....... 177
I.XXXI. HAl'.ETROT AND S! ANTLIF, MAB . . . iSo
I. XXXi I. OLD MOTHER WIGCLE-WAOG I.F. ..... lS6
LXXXIII. CATSK1N . . 189
i. xxxiv. siui-iirs CRIES . . . 195
LXXXV. THE LAMUTON WORM .... 198
LXXXVI. THE WISE MEN OK GOTHAM . . . . 204
I. XXXVII. THE PRINCESS OF CANTERBURY 211
NOTES AND REFERENCES . ... . 215
Full Page Illustrations
TAMLANE ...... . . . Frontispiece
THE BLACK BULL OF NORROWAY . . To face page 24
TATTERCOATS . ,, 64
THE OLD WITCH ... . ,, 96
THE CASTLE OF MKLYALES . . . . ,, 136
THE LITTLE BULL-CALF . . ,, 174
THE LAMBTON WORM ... . ,, 2O2
•WARNING TO CHILDREN ... ,, 214
[From "process" blocks supplied by Messrs. J. C. Drummond,
Henrietta Street, Covent Garden.]
The Pied Piper
NEWTOWN, or Franchville, as 'twas called of old,
is a sleepy little town, as you all may know,
upon the Solent shore. Sleepy as it is now, it
was once noisy enough, and what made the noise was-
rats. The place was so infested with them as to be
scarce worth living in. There wasn't a barn or a corn-
rick, a store-room or a cupboard, but they ate their way
into it. Not a cheese but they gnawed it hollow, not a
sugar puncheon but they cleared out. Why the very
mead and beer in the barrels was not safe from them.
They'd gnaw a hole in the top of the tun, and down would
go one master rat's tail, and when he brought it up round
would crowd all the friends and cousins, and each would
have a suck at the tail.
Had they stopped here it might have been borne. But
the squeaking and shrieking, the hurrying and scurrying,
so that you could neither hear yourself speak nor get a
wink of good honest sleep the livelong night ! Not to
mention that, Mamma must needs sit up, and keep
watch and ward over baby's cradle, or there'd have been
English Fairy Tales
a big ugly rat running across the poor little fellow's face,
and doing who knows what mischief.
Why didn't the good people of the town have cats ?
Well they did, and there was a fair stand-up fight, but in
the end the rats were too many, and the pussies were
regularly driven from the field. Poison, I hear you say ?
Why, they poisoned so many that it fairly bred a plague.
Ratcatchers ! Why there wasn't a ratcatcher from John
o' Groats' House to the Land's End that hadn't tried his
luck. But do what they might, cats or poison, terrier or
traps, there seemed to be more rats than ever, and every
day a fresh rat was cocking his tail or pricking his
whiskers.
The Mayor and the town council were at their wits'
end. As they were sitting one day in the town hall
racking their poor brains, and bewailing their hard fate,
who should run in but the town beadle. " Please your
Honour," says he, " here is a very queer fellow come to
town. I don't rightly know what to make of him."
" Show him in," said the Mayor, and in he stept. A
queer fellow, truly. For there wasn't a colour of the
rainbow but you might find it in some corner of his
dress, and he was tall and thin, and had keen piercing
eyes.
" I'm called the Pied Piper," he began. " And pray
what might you be willing to pay me, if I rid you of
every single rat in Franchville ? "
Well, much as they feared the rats, they feared parting
with their money more, and fain would they have higgled
and haggled. But the Piper was not a man to stand
nonsense, and the upshot was that fifty pounds were
The Pied Piper
promised him (and it meant a lot of money in those
old days) as soon as not a rat was left to squeak or
scurry in Franchville.
Out of the hall stept the Piper, and as he stept he laid
his pipe to his lips and a shrill keen tune sounded though
street and house. And as each note pierced the air you
might have seen a strange sight. For out of every hole
the rats came tumbling. There were none too old and
none too young, none too big and none too little to crowd
at the Piper's heels and with eager feet and upturned
noses to patter after him as he paced the streets. Nor
was the Piper unmindful of the little toddling ones, for
English Fairy Tales
every fifty yards he'd stop and give an extra flourish
on his pipe just to give them time to keep up with the
older and stronger of the band.
Up Silver Street he went, and down Gold Street, and
at the end of Gold Street is the harbour and the broad
Solent beyond. And as he paced along, slowly and
gravely, the townsfolk flocked to door and window, and
many a blessing they called down upon his head.
As for getting near him there were too many rats.
And now that he was at the water's edge he stepped into
a boat, and not a rat, as he shoved off into deep water,
piping shrilly all the while, but followed him, plashing,
paddling, and wagging their tails with delight. On and
on he played and played until the tide went down, and
each master rat sank deeper and deeper in the slimy
ooze of the harbour, until every mother's son of them was
dead and smothered.
The tide rose again, and the Piper stepped on shore,
but never a rat followed. You may fancy the townfolk
had been throwing up their caps and hurrahing and
stopping up rat-holes and setting the church bells
a-ringing. But when the Piper stepped ashore and not
so much as a single squeak was to be heard, the Mayor
and the Council, and the town-folk generally, began to
hum and to ha and to shake their heads.
For the town money chest had been sadly emptied of
late, and where was the fifty pounds to come from ? Such
an easy job, too ! Just getting into a boat and playing
a pipe ! Why the Mayor himself could have done that
if only he had thought of it.
So he hummed and ha'ad and at last, " Come, my good
The Pied Piper
man," said he, " you see what poor folk we are; how can we
manage to pay you fifty pounds ? Will you not take
twenty ? When all is said and done 'twill be good pay
for the trouble you've taken."
' Fifty pounds was what I bargained for," said the
Piper shortly ; " and if I were you I'd pay it quickly.
For I can pipe many kinds of tunes, as folk sometimes
find to their cost."
' Would you threaten us, you strolling vagabond ? "
shrieked the Mayor, and at the same time he winked to
the Council ; " the rats are all dead and drowned,"
muttered he ; and so " You may do your worst, my good
man," and with that he turned short upon his heel.
" Very well," said the Piper, and he smiled a quiet
smile. With that he laid his pipe to his lips afresh, but
now there came forth no shrill notes, as it were, of
scraping and gnawing, and squeaking and scurrying, but
the tune was joyous and resonant, full of happy laughter
-and merry play. And as he paced down the streets the
•elders mocked, but from school-room and play- room,
from nursery and workshop, not a child but ran out with
•eager glee and shout following gaily at the Piper's call.
Dancing, laughing, joining hands and tripping feet, the
•bright throng moved along up Gold Street and down
Silver Street, and beyond Silver Street lay the cool green
forest full of old oaks and wide-spreading beeches. In
.and out among the oak-trees you might catch glimpses of
the Piper's many-coloured coat. You might hear the
laughter of the children break and fade and die away as
deeper and deeper into the lone green wood the stranger
went and the children followed.
English Fairy Tales
All the while, the elders watched and waited. They
mocked no longer now. And watch and wait as they
might, never did they set their eyes again upon the Piper
in his parti-coloured coat. Never were their hearts
gladdened by the song and dance of the children issuing
forth from amongst the ancient oaks of the forest.
Hereafterthis
ONCE upon a time there was a farmer called Jan,
and he lived all alone by himself in a little farm-
house.
By-and-by he thought that he would like to have a
wife to keep it all vitty for him.
So he went a-courting a fine maid, and said to her,
" Will you marry me ? "
" That I will, to be sure," said she.
So they went to church, and were wed. After the
wedding was over, she got up on his horse behind him,
and he brought her home. And they lived as happy as
the day was long.
One day, Jan said to his wife, "Wife, can you milk-y?"
" Oh, yes, Jan, I can milk-y. Mother used to milk-y,
when I lived home."
So he went to market and bought her ten red cows.
All went well till one day when she had driven them to
8 English Fairy Tales
the pond to drink, she thought they did not drink fast
enough. So she drove them right into the pond to make
them drink faster, and they were all drowned.
When Jan came home, she up and told him what she
had done, and he said, " Oh, well there, never mind, my
dear ; better luck next time."
So they went on for a bit, and then, one day, Jan said
to his wife, " Wife can you serve pigs ? "
" Oh, yes, Jan, I can serve pigs. Mother used to serve
pigs when I lived home."
So Jan went to market and bought her some pigs.
All went well till one day, when she had put their food
into the trough she thought they did not eat fast enough,
and she pushed their heads into the trough to make them
eat faster, and they were all choked.
When Jan came home, she up and told him what she
done, and he said, " Oh, well, there, never mind my dear,
better luck next time."
So they went on for a bit, and then, one day, Jan said
to his wife, " Wife can you bake-y ? "
" Oh, yes, Jan, I can bake-y. Mother used to bake-y
when I lived home."
So he bought everything for his wife so that she could
bake bread. All went well for a bit, till one day, she
thought that she would bake white bread for a treat for Jan.
So she carried her meal to the top of a high hill, and let
the wind blow on it, for she thought to herself that the
wind would blow out all the bran. But the wind blew
away meal and bran and all — so there was an end
of it.
When Jan come home, she up and told him what she
Hereafterthis 9
had done, and he said, " Oh, well, there, never mind my
dear, better luck next time."
So they went on for a bit, and then, one day, Jan said
to his wife, " Wife can you brew-y ? "
" Oh, yes, Jan, I can brew-y. Mother used to brew-y
when I lived home."
So he bought everything proper for his wife to brew ale
with. All went well for a bit, till one day when she had
brewed her ale and put it in the barrel, a big black dog
came in and looked up in her face. She drove him out
of the house, but he stayed outside the door and still
looked up in her face. And she got so angry that she
pulled out the plug of the barrel, threw it at the dog, and
said, "What dost look in me for? I be Jan's wife."
Then the dog ran down the road, and she ran after him
to chase him right away. When she came back again,
she found that the ale had all run out of the barrel, and
so there was an end of it.
When Jan came home, she up and told him what she
had done, and he said, " Oh well, there, never mind, my
dear ; better luck next time."
So they went on for a bit, and then one day she thought
to herself, " 'Tis time to clean up my house." When
she was taking down her big bed she found a bag of groats
on the tester. So when Jan came home, she up and said to
him, " Jan, what is that bag of groats on the tester for ? "
" That is for Hereafterthis, my dear."
Now, there was a robber outside the window, and
he heard what Jan said. Next day, he waited till Jan
had gone to market, and then he came and knocked at
the door. " What do you please to want ? " said Mally.
io English Fairy Tales
" I am Hereafterthis," said the robber, " I have come
for the bag of groats."
Now the robber was dressed like a fine gentleman, so
she thought to herself it was very kind of so fine a man
to come for the bag of groats, so she ran upstairs and
fetched the bag of groats, and gave it to the robber and
he went away with it.
When Jan came home, she said to him, "Jan, Here-
afterthis has been for the bag of groats."
" What do you mean, wife ? " said Jan.
So she up and told him, and he said, " Then I'm a ruined
man, for that money was to pay our rent with. The only
thing we can do is to roam the world over till we find the
bag of groats." Then Jan took the house-door off its
hinges, " That's all we shall have to lie on," he said. So
Jan put the door on his back, and they both set out to
look for Hereafterthis. Many a long day they went, and
in the night Jan used to put the door on the branches of
a tree, and they would sleep on it. One night they came
to a big hill, and there was a high tree at the foot. So
Jan put the door up in it, and they got up in the tree and
went to sleep. By-and-by Jan's wife heard a noise, and
she looked to see what it was. It was an opening of a
door in the side of the hill. Out came two gentlemen
with a long table, and behind them, fine ladies and
gentlemen, each carrying a bag, and one of them was
Hereafterthis with the bag of groats. They sat round
the table, and began to drink and talk and count up all
the money in the bags. So then Jan's wife woke him up,
and asked what they should do.
" Now's our time," said Jan, and he pushed the door off
Hereafterthis 1 1
the branches, and it fell right in the very middle of the
table, and frightened the robbers so that they all ran away.
Then Jan and his wife got down from the tree, took as
many money-bags as they could carry on the door, and
went straight home. And Jan bought his wife more
cows, and more pigs, and they lived happy ever after.
The Golden Ball
THERE were two lasses, daughters of one mother,
and as they came from the fair, they saw a right
bonny young man stand at the house-door before
them. They never saw such a bonny man before. He had
gold on his cap, gold on his finger, gold on his neck, a red
gold watch-chain — eh ! but he had brass. He had a
golden ball in each hand. He gave a ball to each lass,
and she was to keep it, and if she lost it, she was to be
hanged. One of the lasses, 'twas the youngest, lost her
ball. I'll tell thee how. She was by a park-paling, and
The Golden Ball 13
she was tossing her ball, and it went up, and up, and up,
till it went fair over the paling ; and when she climbed
up to look, the ball ran along the green grass, and it went
right forward to the door of the house, and the ball went
in and she saw it no more.
So she was taken away to be hanged by the neck till
she was dead because she'd lost her ball.
But she had a sweetheart, and he said he would go and
get the ball. So he went to the park-gate, but 'twas
shut ; so he climbed the hedge, and when he got to the top
of the hedge, an old woman rose up out of the dyke before
him, and said, if he wanted to get the ball, he must sleep
three nights in the house. He said he would.
Then he went into the house, and looked for the ball,
but could not find it. Night came on and he heard
bogles move in the courtyard ; so he looked out o' the
window, and the yard was full of them.
Presently he heard steps coming upstairs. He hid
behind the door, and was as still as a mouse. Then in
came a big giant five times as tall as he, and the giant
looked round but did not see the lad, so he went to the
window and bowed to look out ; and as he bowed on his
elbows to see the bogles in the yard, the lad stepped
behind him, and with one blow of his sword he cut him in
twain, so that the top part of him fell in the yard, and
the bottom part stood looking out of the window.
There was a great cry from the bogles when they saw
half the giant come tumbling down to them, and they
called out, " There comes half our master, give us the
other half."
So the lad said, " It's no use of thee, thou pair of legs,
14 English Fairy Tales
standing alone at the window, as thou hast no eye to see
with, so go join thy brother " ; and he cast the lower part
of the giant after the top part. Now when the bogles
had gotten all the giant they were quiet.
Next night the lad was at the house again, and now a
second giant came in at door, and as he came in the lad
cut him in twain, but the legs walked on to the chimney
and went up them. " Go, get thee after thy legs," said the
lad to the head, and he cast the head up the chimney
too.
The third night the lad got into bed, and he heard the
bogles striving under the bed, and they had the ball there,
and they were casting it to and fro.
Now one of them has his leg thrust out from under
bed, so the lad brings his sword down and cuts it off.
Then another thrusts his arm out at other side of the bed,
and the lad cuts that off. So at last he had maimed
them all, and they all went crying and wailing off, and
forgot the ball, but he took it from under the bed, and
went to seek his truelove.
Now the lass was taken to York to be handed : she
O f
was brought out on the scaffold, and the hangman said,
" Now, lass, thou must hang by the neck till thou be'st
dead." But she cried out :
" Stop, stop, I think I see my mother coming !
Oh mother, hast brought my golden ball
And come to set me free ? "
" I've neither brought thy golden ball
Nor come to set thee free,
But I have come to see thee hung
Upon this gallows-tree."
The Golden Ball 15
Then the hangman said, " Now, lass, say thy prayers
for thou must die." But she said :
" Stop, stop, I think I see my father coming !
0 father, hast brought my golden ball
And come to set me free ? "
" I've neither brought thy golden ball
Nor come to set thee free,
But I have come to see thee hung
Upon this gallows-tree."
Then the hangman said, " Hast thee done thy prayers ?
Now, lass, put thy head into the noose."
But she answered, " Stop, stop, I think I see my brother
coming ! " And again she sang, and then she thought she
saw her sister coming, then her uncle, then her aunt,
then her cousin ; but after this the hangman said, " I
will stop no longer, thou'rt making game of me. Thou
must be hung at once."
But now she saw her sweetheart coming through the
crowd, and he held over his head in the air her own golden
ball ; so she said :
" Stop, stop, I see my sweetheart coming !
Sweetheart, hast brought my golden ball
And come to set me free ? "
" Aye, I have brought thy golden ball
And come to set thee free,
1 have not come to see thee hung
Upon this gallows-tree."
And he took her home, and they lived happy ever after.
My Own Self
IN a tiny house in the North Countrie, far away from any
town or village, there lived not long ago, a poor widow
all alone with her little son, a six-year-old boy.
The house-door opened straight on to the hill-side, and
all round about were moorlands and huge stones, and
swampy hollows ; never a house nor a sign of life wherever
you might look, for their nearest neighbours were the
" ferlies " in the glen below, and the " will-o'-the-wisps " in
the long grass along the path-side.
And many a tale she could tell of the " good folk "
calling to each other in the oak-trees, and the twinkling
lights hopping on to the very window sill, on dark nights ;
but in spite of the loneliness, she lived on from year to
year in the little house, perhaps because she was never
asked to pay any rent for it.
But she did not care to sit up late, when the fire burnt
low, and no one knew what might be about ; so, when they
had had their supper she would make up a good fire and
go off to bed, so that if anything terrible did happen,
she could always hide her head under the bed-clothes.
My Own Self 17
This, however, was far too early to please her little son ;
so when she called him to bed, he would go on playing
beside the fire, as if he did not hear her.
He had always been bad to do with since the day he
was born, and his mother did not often care to cross him ;
indeed, the more she tried to make him obey her, the less
heed he paid to anything she said, so it usually ended by
his taking his own way.
But one night, just at the fore-end of winter, the widow
could not make up her mind to go off to bed, and leave
him playing by the fireside ; for the wind was tugging at
the door, and rattling the window-panes, and well she knew
that on such a night, fairies and such like were bound to
be out and about, and bent on mischief. So she tried to
coax the boy into going at once to bed :
" The safest bed to bide in, such a night as this ! " she
said : but no, he wouldn't.
Then she threatened to " give him the stick," but it was
no use.
The more she begged and scolded, the more he shook
his head ; and when at last she lost patience and cried that
the fairies would surely come and fetch him away, he only
laughed and said he wished they would, for he would like
one to play with.
At that his mother burst into tears, and went off to bed
in despair, certain that after such words something dread-
ful would happen ; while her naughty little son sat on his
stool by the fire, not at all put out by her crying.
But he had not long been sitting there alone, when he
heard a fluttering sound near him in the chimney, and
presently down by his side dropped the tiniest wee girl
* B
1 8 English Fairy Tales
you could think of ; she was not a span high, and had hair
like spun silver, eyes as green as grass, and cheeks red as
June roses.
The little boy looked at her with surprise.
" Oh ! " said he ; " what do they call
ye?"
" My own self," she said in a shrill but
sweet little voice, and she looked at him
too. " And what do they call ye ? "
"Just my own self too?" he answered
cautiously ; and with that they began to
play together.
She certainly showed him some fine games. She made
animals out of the ashes that looked and moved like life ;
and trees with green leaves waving over tiny houses, with
men and women an inch high in them, who, when she
breathed on them, fell to walking and talking quite
properly.
But the fire was getting low, and the light dim, and
presently the little boy stirred the coals with a stick, to
make them blaze ; when out jumped a red-hot cinder, and
where should it fall, but on the fairy-child's tiny foot.
Thereupon she set up such a squeal, that the boy
dropped the stick, and clapped his hands to his ears ; but
it grew to so shrill a screech, that it was like all the wind
in the world, whistling through one tiny keyhole.
There was a sound in the chimney again, but this time
the little boy did not wait to see what it was, but bolted
off to bed, where he hid under the blankets and listened
in fear and trembling to what went on.
A voice came from the chimney speaking sharply :
My Own Self 19
" Who's there, and what's wrong ? " it said.
" It's my own self," sobbed the fairy child ; " and my
foot's burnt sore. O-o-h ! "
" Who did it ? " said the voice angrily ; this time it
sounded nearer, and the boy, peeping from under the
clothes, could see a white face looking out from the
chimney-opening.
" Just my own self too ! " said the fairy-child again.
' Then if ye did it your own self," cried the elf-mother
shrilly, "what's the use o' making all
this fash about it ?"- —and with that she
stretched out a long thin arm, and
caught the creature by its ear, and,
shaking it roughly, pulled it after her,
out of sight up the chimney.
The little boy lay awake a long time,
listening, in case the fairy mother should come back after
all ; and next evening after supper, his mother was sur-
prised to find that he was willing to go to bed whenever
she liked.
" He's taking a turn for the better at last ! " she said to
herself ; but he was thinking just then that, when next a
fairy came to play with him, he might not get off quite so
easily as he had done this time.
Black Bull of Norroway
IN Norroway, long time ago, there lived a certain lady,
and she had three daughters. The oldest of them
said to her mother : " Mother, bake me a bannock, and
roast me a collop, for I'm going away to seek my fortune."
Her mother did so ; and the daughter went away to an
old witch washerwife and told her purpose. The old wife
bade her stay that day, and look out of her back-door,
and see what she could see. She saw nought the first
day. The second day she did the same, and saw nought.
On the third day she looked again, and saw a coach-and-
Black Bull of Norroway 2 1
six coming along the road. She ran in and told the
old wife what she saw. "Well," quoth the old woman,
" yon's for you." So they took her into the coach, and
galloped off.
The second daughter next says to her mother :
' Mother, bake me a bannock, and roast me a collop, for
I'm going away to seek my fortune." Her mother did
so ; and away she went to the old wife, as her sister had
done. On the third day she looked out of the back-door,
and saw a coach-and-four coming along the road.
" Well," quoth the old woman, " yon's for you." So
they took her in, and off they set.
The third daughter says to her mother : " Mother,
bake me a bannock, and roast me a collop, for I'm going
away to seek my fortune." Her mother did so ; and
away she went to the old witch. She bade her look out
of her back-door, and see what she could see. She did
so ; and when she came back, said she saw nought.
The second day she did the same, and saw nought,
The third day she looked again, and on coming back
said to the old wife she saw nought but a great Black
Bull coming crooning along the road. " Well," quoth
the old witch, " yon's for you." On hearing this
she was next to distracted with grief and terror ; but
she was lifted up and set on his back, and away they
went.
Aye they travelled, and on they travelled, till the lady
grew faint with hunger. " Eat out of my right ear," says
the Black Bull, "and drink out of my left ear, and set by
your leaving." So she did as he said, and was wonder-
fully refreshed. And long they rode, and hard they rode,
22 English Fairy Tales
till they came in sight of a very big and bonny castle.
"Yonder we must be this night," quoth the Bull ; "for
my old brother lives yonder ; " and presently they were at
the place. They lifted her off his back, and took her in,
and sent him away to a park for the night. In the
morning, when they brought the Bull home, they took
the lady into a fine shining parlour, and gave her a
beautiful apple, telling her not to break it till she was in
the greatest strait ever mortal was in in the world, and
that would bring her out of it. Again she was lifted on
the Bull's back, and after she had ridden far, and farther
than I can tell, they came in sight of a far bonnier castle,
and far farther away than the last. Says the Bull to her :
" Yonder we must be this night, for my second brother
lives yonder;" and they were at the place directly.
They lifted her down and took her in, and sent the Bull
to the field for the night. In the morning they took the
lady into a fine and rich room, and gave her the finest
pear she had ever seen, bidding her not to break it till she
was in the greatest strait ever mortal could be in, and that
would get her out of it. Again she was lifted and set on
his back, and away they went. And long they rode, and
hard they rode, till they came in sight of the far biggest
castle, and far farthest off, they had yet seen. " We
must be yonder to night," says the Bull, " for my young
brother lives yonder ; " and they were there directly.
They lifted her down, took her in, and sent the Bull to
the field for the night. In the morning they took her
into a room, the finest of all, and gave her a plum, telling
her not to break it till she was in the greatest strait
mortal could be in, and that would get her out of it.
Black Bull of Norroway 23
Presently they brought home the Bull, set the lady on his
back, and away they went.
And aye they rode, and on they rode, till they came to
a dark and ugsome glen, where they stopped, and the
lady lighted down. Says the Bull' to her : " Here ye
must stay till I go and fight the Old Un. Ye must seat
yourself on that stone, and move neither hand nor foot
till I come back, else I'll never find ye again. And if
everything round about you turns blue, I have beaten the
Old Un ; but should all things turn red, he'll have
conquered me." She set herself down on the stone, and
by-and-by all round her turned blue. Overcome with joy,
she lifted one of her feet, and crossed it over the other, so
glad was she that her companion was victorious. The
Bull returned and sought for her, but never could find
her.
Long she sat, and aye she wept, till she wearied. At
last she rose and went away, she didn't know where. On
she wandered, till she came to a great hill of glass, that
she tried all she could to climb, but wasn't able. Round
the bottom of the hill she went, sobbing and seeking a
passage over, till at last she came to a smith's house ;
and the smith promised, if she would serve him seven
years, he would make her iron shoon, wherewith she
could climb over the glassy hill. At seven years' end
she got her iron shoon, clomb the glassy hill, and chanced
to come to the old washerwife's habitation. There she
was told of a gallant young knight that had given in
some clothes all over blood to wash, and whoever washed
them was to be his wife. The old wife had washed till
she was tired, and then she set her daughter at it, and
24 English Fairy Tales
both washed, and they washed, and they washed, in hopes
of getting the young knight ; but all they could do, they
couldn't bring out a stain. At length they set the
stranger damosel to work ; and whenever she began, the
stains came out pure and clean, and the old wife made
the knight believe it was her daughter had washed
the clothes. So the knight and the eldest daughter were
to be married, and the stranger damosel was distracted at
the thought of it, for she was deeply in love with him.
So she bethought her of her apple, and breaking it, found
it filled with gold and precious jewellery, the richest she
had ever seen. " All these," she said to the eldest
daughter, " I will give you, on condition that you put off
your marriage for one day, and allow me to go into his
room alone at night." So the lady consented ; but
meanwhile the old wife had prepared a sleeping drink,
and given it to the knight, who drank it, and never
wakened till next morning. The life-long night the
damosel sobbed and sang :
" Seven long years I served for thee,
The glassy hill I clomb for thee,
Thy bloody clothes I wrang for thee ;
And wilt thou not waken and turn to me ?''
Next day she knew not what to do for grief. She then
broke the pear, and found it filled with jewellery far
richer than the contents of the apple. With these jewels
she bargained for permission to be a second night in
the young knight's chamber ; but the old wife gave
him another sleeping drink, and he again slept till
morning. All night she kept sighing and singing as
before :
Black Bull of Norroway 25
" Seven long years I served for thee,
The glassy hill I clomb for thee,
Thy bloody clothes I wrang for thee ;
And wilt thou not waken and turn to me ? "
Still he slept, and she nearly lost hope altogether. But
that day, when he was out hunting, somebody asked him
what noise and moaning was that they heard all last
night in his bedchamber. He said, " I haven't heard
any noise." But they assured him there was ; and
he resolved to keep waking that night to try what he
could hear. That being the third night, and the damosel
being between hope and despair, she broke her plum, and
it held far the richest jewellery of the three. She
bargained as before ; and the old wife, as before, took in
the sleeping drink to the young knight's chamber ; but
he told her he couldn't drink it that night without sweet-
ening. And when she went away for some honey to
sweeten it with, he poured out the drink, and so made
the old wife think he had drunk it. They all went to
bed again, and the damosel began, as before, singing :
" Seven long years I served for thee,
The glassy hill I clomb for thee,
Thy bloody clothes I wrang for thee ;
And wilt thou not waken and turn to me?"
He heard, and turned to her. And she told him all that
had befallen her, and he told her all that had happened
to him. And he caused the old washerwife and her
daughter to be burnt. And they were married, and he
she are living happy to this day, for aught I know.
Yallery Brown
ONCE upon a time, and a very good time it was,
though it wasn't in my time, nor in your time,
nor any one else's time, there was a young lad of
eighteen or so named Tom Tiver working on the Hall
Farm. One Sunday he was walking across the west field,
'twas a beautiful July night, warm and still and the air was
full of little sounds as though the trees and grass were
chattering to themselves. And all at once there came a
bit ahead of him the pitifullest greetings ever he heard,
sob, sobbing, like a bairn spent with fear, and nigh heart-
broken ; breaking off" into a moan and then rising again
in a long whimpering wailing that made him feel sick to
hark to it. He began to look everywhere for the poor
creature. " It must be Sally Bratton's child," he thought to
himself ; " she was always a flighty thing, and never
looked after it. Like as not, she's flaunting about the lanes,
and has clean forgot the babby." But though he looked
and looked, he could see nought. And presently the
whimpering got louder and stronger in the quietness, and he
thought lie could make out words of some sort. He
Yallery Brown 2 7
hearkened with all his ears, and the sorry thing was saying
words all mixed up with sobbing —
" Ooh ! the stone, the great big stone ! ooh ! the stones
on top ! "
Naturally he wondered where the stone might be, and
he looked again, and there by the hedge bottom was a
great flat stone, nigh buried in the mools, and hid in the
cotted grass and weeds. One of the stones was called the
4< Strangers' Tables." However, down he fell on his knee-
bones by that stone, and hearkened again. Clearer than
ever, but tired and spent with greeting came the little
sobbing voice — " Ooh ! ooh ! the stone, the stone on top."
He was gey, and misliking to meddle with the thing, but he
couldn't stand the whimpering babby, and he tore like
mad at the stone, till he felt it lifting from the mools, and
all at once it came with a sough out o' the damp earth
and the tangled grass and growing things. And there in
the hole lay a tiddy thing on its back, blinking up at the
moon and at him. 'Twas no bigger than a year old baby,
but it had long cotted hair and beard, twisted round and
round its body so that you couldn't see its clothes ; and the
hair was all yaller and shining and silky, like a bairn's ;
but the face of it was old and as if 'twere hundreds of
years since 'twas young and smooth. Just a heap of
wrinkles, and two bright black eyne in the midst, set in a
lot of shining yaller hair ; and the skin was the colour of
the fresh turned earth in the spring — brown as brown could
be, and its bare hands and feet were brown like the face
of it. The greeting had stopped, but the tears were
standing on its cheek, and the tiddy thing looked mazed
like in the moonshine and the night air.
28
English Fairy Tales
The creature's eyne got used like to the moonlight, and
presently he looked up in Tom's face as bold as ever was ;
" Tom," says he, " thou'rt a good lad ! " as cool as thou
can think, says he, "Tom, thou'rt a good lad ! " and his
voice was soft and high and piping like a little bird
twittering.
Tom touched his hat, and began to think what he ought
to say. " Houts ! " says the thing again, " thou needn't
be feared o' me ; thou'st done me a better turn than thou
knowst, my lad, and I'll do as much for thee." Tom
couldn't speak yet, but he thought, " Lord ! for sure 'tis a
bogle ! "
" No ! " says he as quick as quick, " I am no bogle, but
ye'd best not ask me what I be ; anyways I be a good
friend o' thine." Tom's very knee-bones struck, for
certainly an ordinary body couldn't have known what he'd
been thinking to himself, but he looked so kind like, and
spoke so fair, that he made bold to get out, a bit quavery
like—
Yallery Brown 29
' Might I be axing to know your honour's name ? "
" H'm," says he, pulling his beard ; " as for that " — and
he thought a bit — " ay so," he went on at last, " Yallery
Brown thou mayst call me, Yallery Brown ; 'tis my nature
seest thou, and as for a name 'twill do as any other.
Yallery Brown, Torn, Yallery Brown's thy friend, my lad."
"Thankee, master," says Tom, quite meek like.
"And now," he says, "I'm in a hurry to-night, but tell
me quick, what'll I do for thee ? Wilt have a wife ? I can
give thee the finest lass in the town. Wilt be rich ?
I'll give thee gold as much as thou can carry. Or wilt
have help wi' thy work ? Only say the word."
Tom scratched his head. " Well, as for a wife, I have
no hankering after such ; they're but bothersome bodies,
and I have women folk at home as '11 mend my clouts ;
and for gold that's as may be, but for work, there, I can't
abide work, and if thou'lt give me a helpin' hand in it I'll
thank "
" Stop," says he, quick as lightning, " I'll help thee and
welcome, but if ever thou sayest that to me — if ever thou
thankest me, see'st thou, thou'lt never see me more.
Mind that now ; I want no thanks, I'll have no thanks ;"
and he stampt his tiddy foot on the earth and looked as
wicked as a raging bull.
" Mind that now, great lump that thou be," he went on,
calming down a bit, " and if ever thou need'st help, or get'st
into trouble, call on me and just say, ' Yallery Brown, come
from the mools, I want thee ! ' and I'll be wi' thee at once ;
and now," says he, picking a dandelion puff, "good night
to thee," and he blowed it up, and it all came into Tom's eyne
and ears. Soon as Tom could see again the tiddy creature
30 English Fairy Tales
was gone, and but for the stone on end and the hole at
his feet, he'd have thought he'd been dreaming.
Well, Tom went home and to bed ; and by the morning
he'd nigh forgot all about it. But when he went to the
work, there was none to do ! all was done already, the
horses seen to, the stables cleaned out, everything in its
proper place, and he'd nothing to do but sit with his hands
in his pockets. And so it went on day after day, all the work
done by Yallery Brown, and better done, too, than he could
have done it himself. And if the master gave him more
work, he sat down, and the work did itself, the singeing
irons, or the broom, or what not, set to, and with ne'er a
hand put to it would get through in no time. For he
never saw Yallery Brown in daylight ; only in the
darklins he saw him hopping about, like a Will-o-th'-wyke
without his lanthorn.
At first, 'twas mighty fine for Tom ; he'd nought to do
and good pay for it ; but by-and-by things began to go
vicey-varsy. If the work was done for Tom, 'twas undone
for the other lads ; if his buckets were filled, theirs were
upset ; if his tools were sharpened, theirs were blunted and
spoiled ; if his horses were clean as daisies, theirs were
splashed with muck, and so on ; day in and day out, 'twas
the same. And the lads saw Yallery Brown flitting about
o' nights, and they saw the things working without hands
o' days, and they saw that Tom's work was done for him,
and theirs undone for them ; and naturally they begun to
look shy on him, and they wouldn't speak or come nigh
him, and they carried tales to the master and so things
went from bad to worse.
For Tom could do nothing himself; the brooms
Yallery Brown 3 i
wouldn't stay in his hand, the plough ran away from him,
the hoe kept out of his grip. He thought that he'd do
his own work after all, so that Yallery Brown would leave
him and his neighbours alone. But he couldn't — true as
death he couldn't. He could only sit by and look on, and
have the cold shoulder turned on him, while the unnatural
thing was meddling with the others, and working for him.
At last, things got so bad that the master gave Tom
the sack, and if he hadn't, all the rest of the lads would
have sacked him, for they swore they'd not stay on the
same garth with Tom. Well, naturally Tom felt bad ;
'twas a very good place, and good pay too ; and he was
fair mad with Yallery Brown, as 'd got him into such a
trouble. So Tom shook his fist in the air and called out
as loud as he could, " Yallery Brown, come from the mools ;
thou scamp, I want thee ! "
You'll scarce believe it, but he'd hardly brought out the
words but he felt something tweaking his leg behind, while
he jumped with the smart of it ; and soon as he looked
down, there was the tiddy thing, with his shining hair,
and wrinkled face, and wicked glinting black eyne.
Tom was in a fine rage, and he would have liked to have
kicked him, but 'twas no good, there wasn't enough of it
to get his boot against ; but he said, " Look here, master,
I'll thank thee to leave me alone after this, dost hear ? I
want none of thy help, and I'll have nought more to do
with thee — see now."
The horrid thing broke into a screeching laugh, and
pointed its brown finger at Tom. " Ho, ho, Tom ! " says
he. " Thou'st thanked me, my lad, and I told thee not, I
told thee not ! "
32 English Fairy Tales
" I don't want thy help, I tell thee," Tom yelled at him —
" I only want never to see thee again, and to have nought
more to do with ee — thou can go."
The thing only laughed and screeched and mocked, as
long as Tom went on swearing, but so soon as his breath
gave out—
" Tom, my lad," he said with a grin, " I'll tell'ee summat,
Tom. True's true I'll never help thee again, and call as
thou wilt, thou'lt never see me after to-day ; but I never
said that I'd leave thee alone, Tom, and I never will, my
lad ! I was nice and safe under the stone, Tom, and could
do no harm ; but thou let me out thyself, and thou can't
put me back again ! I would have been thy friend and
worked for thee if thou had been wise ; but since thou bee'st
no more than a born fool I'll give 'ee no more than a born
fool's luck ; and when all goes vice-varsy, and everything
agee — thou'lt mind that its Yallery Brown's doing though
m'appen thou doesn't see him. Mark my words, will 'ee ?"
And he began to sing, dancing round Tom, like a bairn
with his yellow hair, but looking older than ever with his
grinning wrinkled bit of a face :
" Work AS thou will
Thou'lt never do well ;
Work as thou mayst
Thou'lt never gain grist ;
For harm and mischance and Yallery Brown
Thou'st let out thyself from under the stone."
Tom could never rightly mind what he said next.
Twas all cussing and calling down misfortune on him ;
but he was so mazed in fright that he could only stand
there shaking all over, and staring down at the horrid
Yallery Brown 33
thing ; and if he'd gone on long, Tom would have tumbled
down in a fit. But by-and-by, his yaller shining hair
rose up in the air, and wrapt itself round him till he looked
for all the world like a great dandelion puff; and it floated
away on the wind over the wall and out o' sight, with a
parting skirl of wicked voice and sneering laugh.
And did it come true, sayst thou ? My word ! but it
did, sure as death ! He worked here and he worked there,
and turned his hand to this and to that, but it always went
agee, and 'twas all Yallery Brown's doing. And the
children died, and the crops rotted — the beasts never
fatted, and nothing ever did well with him ; and till he
was dead and buried, and m'appen even afterwards,
there was no end to Yallery Brown's spite at him ; day
in and day out he used to hear him saying-
"Work as thou wilt
Thou'lt never do well ;
Work as thou mayst
Thou'lt never gain grist ;
For harm and mischance and Yallery Brown
Thou'st let out thyself from under the stone."
Three Feathers
ONCE upon a time there was a girl who was
married to a husband that she never saw. And
the way this was that he was only at home at
night, and would never have any light in the house. So
the girl thought that was funny, and all her friends told
her there must be something wrong with her husband,
some great deformity that made him want not to be seen.
Well, one night when he came home she suddenly lit
a candle and saw him. He was handsome enough to
make all the women of the world fall in love with him.
But scarcely had she seen him when he began to change
into a bird, and then he said: " Now you have seen me^
you shall see me no more, unless you are willing to serve
seven years and a day for me, so that I may become a
man once more." Then he told her to take three feathers
from under his side, and whatever she wished through
them would come to pass. Then he left her at a great
house to be laundry-maid for seven years and a day.
And the girl used to take the feathers and say : " By
virtue of my three feathers may the copper be lit, and the
Three Feathers 35
clothes washed, and mangled, and folded, and put away
to the missus's satisfaction."
And then she had no more care about it. The feathers
did the rest, and the lady set great store by her for a
better laundress she had never had. Well, one day the
butler, who had a notion to have the pretty laundry-maid
for his wife, said to her, he should have spoken before but
he did not want to vex her. " Why should it when I am
but a fellow-servant ? " the girl said. And then he felt
free to go on, and explain he had £70 laid by with the
master, and how would she like him for a husband.
And the girl told him to fetch her the money, and he
asked his master for it, and brought it to her. But as
they were going up stairs, she cried, " O John, I must go
back, sure I've left my shutters undone, and they'll be
slashing and banging all night."
The butler said, " Never you trouble, I'll put them
right," and he ran back, while she took her feathers, and
said : " By virtue of my three feathers may the shutters
slash and bang 'till morning, and John not be able to
fasten them nor yet to get his fingers free from them ! "
And so it was. Try as he might the butler could not
leave hold, nor yet keep the shutters from blowing open
as he closed them. And he was angry, but could not
help himself, and he did not care to tell of it and get the
laugh on him, so no one knew.
Then after a bit the coachman began to notice her, and
she found he had some £40 with the master, and he said
she might have it if she would take him with it.
So after the laundry-maid had his money in her apron
as they went merrily along, she stopt, exclaiming :
English Fairy Tales
" My clothes are left outside, I must run back and bring
them in." " Stop for me while I go ; it is a cold frost
night," said William, " you'd be catching your death."
So the girl waited long enough to take her feathers out
and say, " By virtue of my three feathers may the clothes
slash and blow about 'till morning, and may William not
be able to take his hand from them nor yet to gather
them up." And then she was away to bed and to
sleep.
The coachman did not want to be every one's jest, and
he said nothing. So after a bit, the footman comes to her
and said he : 'I have been with my master for years and
have saved up a good bit, and you have been three years
here, and must have saved up as well. Let us put it
Three Feathers 37
together, and make us a home or else stay on at service
as pleases you." Well, she got him to bring the savings
to her as the others had, and then she pretended she was
faint, and said to him : " James, I feel so queer, run down
cellar for me, that's a dear, and fetch me up a drop of
brandy." Now no sooner had he started than she said :
" By virtue of my three feathers, may there be slashing
and spilling, and James not be able to pour the brandy
straight nor yet to take his hand from it until morning ! "
And so it was. Try as he might James could not get his
glass filled, and there was slashing and spilling, and right
on it all, down came the master to know what it meant !
So James told him he could not make it out, but he
could not get the drop of brandy the laundry-maid had
asked for, and his hand would shake and spill everything,
and yet come away he could not.
This got him in for a regular scrape, and the master
when he got back to his wife said, " What has come over
the men, they were all right until that laundry-maid of
yours came. Something is up now though. They have
all dra\\ii out their pay, and yet they don't leave, and what
can it be anyway ? "
But his wife said she could not hear of the laundry-
maid being blamed, for she was the best servant she had
and worth all the rest put together.
So it went on until one clay as the girl stood in the
hall door, the coachman happened to say to the footman :
" Do you know how that girl served me, James ? ' And
then William told about the clothes. The butler put in,
"That was nothing to what she served me," and he told
of the shutters clapping all night.
38 English Fairy Tales
So then the master came through the hall, and the girl
said : " By virtue of my three feathers may there be
slashing and striving between master and men, and may
all get splashed in the pond."
And so it was, the men fell to disputing which had
suffered the most by her, and when the master came up
all would be heard at once and none listened to him, and
it came to blows all round, and the first they knew they
had shoved one another into the pond.
So when the girl thought they had had enough she
took the spell off, and the master asked her what had
begun the row, for he had not heard in the confusion.
And the girl said, " They were ready to fall on any one ;
they'd have beat me if you had not come by."
So it blew over for that time, and through her feathers
she made the best laundress ever known. But to make
a long story short, when the seven years and a day were
up, the bird-husband, who had known her doings all
along, came after her, restored to his own shape again.
And he told her mistress he had come to take her from
being a servant, and that she should have servants under
her. But he did not tell of the feathers.
And then he bade her give the men back their savings.
" That was a rare game you had with them," said he,
" but now you are going where there is plenty, so leave
them each their own." So she did ; and they drove off to
their castle, where they lived happy ever after.
Sir Gammer Vans
LAST Sunday morning at six o'clock in the evening
as I was sailing over the tops of the mountains in
my little boat, I met two men on horseback riding
on one mare : so I asked them, " Could they tell me
whether the little old woman was dead yet who was
hanged last Saturday week for drowning herself in a
shower of feathers ? " They said they could not posi-
tively inform me, but if I went to Sir Gammer Vans he
could tell me all about it.
" But how am I to know the house ? " said I.
" Ho, 'tis easy enough," said they, " for 'tis a brick
40 English Fairy Tales
house, built entirely of flints, standing alone by itself in
the middle of sixty or seventy others just like it."
" Oh, nothing in the world is easier," said I.
" Nothing can be easier," said they : so I went on my
way.
Now this Sir G. Vans was a giant, and bottle-maker.
And as all giants who arc bottle-makers usually pop out
of a little thumb-bottle from behind the door, so did Sir
G. Vans.
" How d'ye do ? " says he.
" Very well, I thank you," says I.
" Have some breakfast with me ? '
" With all my heart," says I.
So he gave me a slice of beer, and a cup of cold veal ;
and there was a little dog under the table that picked up
all the crumbs.
" Hang him," says I.
" No, don't hang him," says he ; " for he killed a hare
yesterday. And if you don't believe me, I'll show you
the hare alive in a basket."
So he took me into his garden to show me the curiosi-
ties. In one corner there was a fox hatching eagle's
eggs ; in another there was an iron apple-tree, entirely
covered with pears and lead ; in the third there was the
hare which the dog killed yesterday alive in the basket ;
and in the fourth there were twenty-four kipper sivitc/ies
threshing tobacco, and at the sight of me they threshed
so hard that they drove the plug through the wall, and
through a little dog that was passing by on the other
side. I, hearing the dog howl, jumped over the wall ;
and turned it as neatly inside out as possible, when it ran
Sir Gammer Vans 41
away as if it had not an hour to live. Then he took me
into the park to show me his deer : and I remembered
that I had a warrant in my pocket to shoot venison for
his majesty's dinner. So I set fire to my bow, poised my
arrow, and shot amongst them. I broke seventeen ribs
on one side, and twenty-one and a-half on the other ; but
my arrow passed clean through without ever touching it,
and the worst was I lost my arrow : however, I found it
again in the hollow of a tree. I felt it ; it felt clammy.
I smelt it ; it smelt honey. " Oh, ho," said I, " here's a
bee's nest," when out sprang a covey of partridges. I shot
at them ; some say I killed eighteen ; but I am sure I
killed thirty-six, besides a dead salmon which was flying
over the bridge, of which I made the best apple-pie I ever
tasted.
Tom Hickathrift
BEFORE the days of William the Conqueror there
dwelt a man in the marsh of the Isle of Ely
whose name was Thomas Hickathrift, a poor day
labourer, but so stout that he could do two days' work
in one. His one son he called by his own name, Thomas
Hickathrift, and he put him to good learning, but the lad
was none of the wisest, and indeed seemed to be somewhat
soft, so he got no good at all from his teaching.
Tom's father died, and his mother being tender of him,
Tom Hickathrift 43
kept him as well as she could. The slothful fellow would
do nothing but sit in the chimney-corner, and eat as much
at a time as would serve four or five ordinary men. And
so much did he grow that when but ten years old he
was already eight feet high, and his hand like a shoulder
of mutton.
One day his mother went to a rich farmer's house to
beg a bottle of straw for herself and Tom. " Take what
you will," said the farmer, an honest, charitable man. So
when she got home she told Tom to fetch the straw, but
he wouldn't, and, beg as she might, he wouldn't till she
borrowed him a cart rope. So off he went, and when he
came to the farmer's, master and men were all a-thrashing
in the barn.
"I'm come for the straw," said Tom.
" Take as much as thou canst carry," said the farmer.
So Tom laid down his rope and began to make his
bottle.
" Your rope is too short," said the farmer by way of a
joke ; but the joke was on Tom's side, for when he had
made up his load there was some twenty hundredweight
of straw, and though they called him a fool for thinking
he could carry the tithe of it, he flung it over his shoulder
as if it had been a hundredweight, to the great admiration
of master and men.
Tom's strength being thus made known there was no
longer any basking by the fire for him ; every one would
be hiring him to work, and telling him 'twas a shame to
live such a lazy life. So Tom seeing them wait on him
as they did, went to work first with one, then with
another. And one day a woodman desired his help to
44 English Fairy Tales
bring home a tree. Off went Tom and four men besides,
O
and when they came to the tree they began to draw it
into the cart with pulleys. At last Tom, seeing them
unable to lift it, " Stand away, you fools," said he, and,
taking the tree, set it on one end and laid it in the cart.
" Now," said he, " see what a man can do." " Marry, 'tis
true," said they, and the woodman asked what reward
he'd take. " Oh, a stick for my mother's fire," said Tom ;
and, espying a tree bigger than was in the cart, he laid it
on his shoulders and went home with it as fast as the cart
and six horses could draw it.
Tom now saw that he had more strength than twenty
men, and began to be very merry, taking delight in
company, in going to fairs and meetings, in seeing sports
and pastimes. And at cudgels, wrestling, or throwing
the hammer, not a man could stand against him, so that
at last none durst go into the ring to wrestle with him,
and his fame was spread more and more in the country.
Far and near he would go to any meetings, as football
play or the like. And one day in a part of the country
where he was a stranger, and none knew him, he stopped
to watch a company at football play ; rare sport it was ;
but Tom spoiled it all, for meeting the ball he took it
such a kick that away it flew none could tell whither.
They were angry with Tom as you may fancy, but got
nothing by that, as Tom took hold of a big spar, and laid
about with a will, so that though the whole country-side
was up in arms against him, he cleared his way wherever
he came.
It was late in the evening ere he could turn homeward,
and on the road there met him four lusty rogues that had
Tom Hickathrift 45
been robbing passengers all day. They thought they
had a good prize in Tom, who was all alone, and made-
cocksure of his money.
" Stand and deliver ! " said they.
"What should I deliver? " said Tom.
" Your money, sirrah," said they.
"You shall give me better words for it first," said Tom.
" Come, come, no more prating ; money we want, and
money we'll have before you stir."
" Is it so ? " said Tom ; " nay, then come and take it."
The long and the short of it was that Tom killed two of
the rogues, and grievously wounded the other two, and
took all their money, which was as much as two hundred
pounds. And when he came home he made his old
mother laugh with the story of how he served the football
players and the four thieves.
But you shall see that Tom sometimes met his match,
In wandering one day in the forest he met a lusty
tinker that had a good staff on his shoulder, and a great
dog to carry his bag and tools.
" Whence come you and whither are you going ? " said
Tom, " this is no highway."
" What's that to you ? " said the tinker ; " fools must
needs be meddling."
"I'll make you know," said Tom, "before you and I
part, what it is to me."
" Well," said the tinker, " I'm ready for a bout with any
man, and I hear there is one Tom Hickathrift in the
country of whom great things are told. I'd fain see him
to have a turn with him.''
" Ay," said Tom, " methinks he might be master with
46 English Fairy Tales
you. Anyhow, I am the man ; what have you to say to
me ? "
"Why, verily, I'm glad we are so happily met."
" Sure, you do but jest," said Tom.
" Marry, I'm in earnest," said the tinker. " A match ? "
«' "Tis done." " Let me first get a twig," said Tom. " Ay,"
said the tinker, " hang him that would fight a man un-
armed."
So Tom took a gate-rail for his staff, and at it they
fell, the tinker at Tom, and Tom at the tinker, like two
giants they laid on at each other. The tinker had a
leathern coat on, and at every blow Tom gave the tinker
his coat roared again, yet the tinker did not give way one
inch. At last Tom gave him a blow on the side of his
head which felled him.
" Now tinker where are you ? " said Tom.
But the tinker being a nimble fellow, leapt up again,
gave Tom a blow that made him reel again, and followed
his blow with one on the other side that made Tom's neck
crack again. So Tom flung down his weapon and yielded
the tinker the better on it, took him home to his house,
where they nursed their bruises, and from that day forth
there was no stauncher pair of friends than they two.
Tom's fame was thus spread abroad till at length a
brewer at Lynn, wanting a good lusty man to carry his
beer to Wisbeach went to hire Tom, and promised him a
new suit of clothes from top to toe, and that he should
cat and drink of the best, so Tom yielded to be his man
and his master told him what way he should go, for you
must understand there was a monstrous giant who kept
part of the marsh-land, so that none durst go that way.
Tom Hickathrift 47
So Tom went every day to Wisbeach, a good twenty
miles by the road. 'Twas a wearisome journey thought
Tom and he soon found that the way kept by the giant
was nearer by half. Now Tom had got more strength
than ever, being well kept as he was and drinking so
much strong ale as he did. One day, then, as he was
going to Wisbeach, without saying anything to his master
or to any of his fellow-servants, he resolved to take
the nearest road or to lose his life ; as they say, to win
horse or lose saddle. Thus resolved, he took the near
road, flinging open the gates for his cart and horses to
go through. At last the giant spied him, and came up
speedily, intending to take his beer for a prize.
He met Tom like a lion, as though he would have
swallowed him. " Who gave you authority to come
this way ? " roared he. " I'll make you an example for
all rogues under the sun. See how many heads hang on
yonder tree. Yours shall hang higher than all the rest
for a warning."
But Tom made him answer, " A fig in your teeth you
shall not find me like one of them, traitorly rogue that
you are."
The giant took these words in high disdain, and ran
into his cave to fetch his great club, intending to dash
out Tom's brains at the first blow.
Tom knew not what to do for a weapon ; his whip
would be but little good against a monstrous beast twelve
foot in length and six foot about the waist. But whilst
the giant went for his club, bethinking him of a very
good weapon, he made no more ado, but took his cart,
turned it upside down, and took axle-tree and wheel
48 English Fairy Tales
for shield and buckler. And very good weapons they
were found !
Out came the giant and began to stare at Tom. ' You
arc like to do great service with those weapons," roared
he. " I have here a twig that will beat you and your
wheel to the ground." Now this twig was as thick as
some mileposts are, but Tom was not daunted for all that,
though the giant made at him with such force that the
o o
wheel cracked again. But Tom gave as good as he got,
taking the giant such a weighty blow on the side of the
head that he reeled again. "What," said Tom, " are
you drunk with my strong beer already ? "
So at it they went, Tom laying such huge blows at
the giant, down whose face sweat and blood ran together,
so that, being fat and foggy and tired with the long
fighting, he asked Tom would he let him drink a little ?
" Nay, nay," said Tom, " my mother did not teach me
such wit ; who'd be a fool then ? " And seeing the giant
beginning to weary and fail in his blows, Tom thought
best to make hay whilst the sun shone, and, laying on as
fast as though he had been mad, he brought the giant to
the ground. In vain were the giant's roars and prayers
and promises to yield himself and be Tom's servant.
Tom laid at him till he was dead, and then, cutting off
his head, he went into the cave, and found a great store
of silver and gold, which made his heart to leap. So he
loaded his cart, and after delivering his beer at Wisbeach,
he came home and told his master what had befallen
him. And on the morrow he and his master and more
of the town-folk of Lynn set out for the giant's cave.
Tom showed them the head, and what silver and gold
Tom Hickathrift 49
there was in the cave, and not a man but leapt for joy,
for the giant was a great enemy to all the country.
The news was spread all up and down the countiy-
side how Tom Hickathrift had killed the giant. And
well was he that could run to see the cave ; all the folk
made bonfires for joy, and if Tom was respected before, he
was much more so now. With common consent he took
possession of the cave and everyone said, had it been
twice as much, he would have deserved it. So Tom
pulled down the cave, and built himself a brave house.
The ground that the giant kept by force for himself, Tom
gave part to the poor for their common land, and part
he turned into good wheat-land to keep himself and his
old mother, Jane Hickathrift. And now he was become
the chiefest man in the country-side ; 'twas no longer
plain Tom, but Mr. Hickathrift, and he was held in due
respect I promise you. He kept men and maids and
lived most bravely ; made him a park to keep deer, and
time passed with him happily in his great house till the
end of his days.
The Hedley Kow
THERE was once an old woman, who earned a poor
living by going errands and such like, for the
farmers' wives round about the village where she
lived. It wasn't much she earned by it ; but with a plate
of meat at one house, and a cup of tea at another, she
made shift to get on somehow, and always looked as
cheerful as if she hadn't a want in the world.
Well, one summer evening as she was trotting away
homewards she came upon a big black pot lying at the
side of the road.
" Now that" said she, stopping to look at it, " would be
just the very thing for me if I had anything to put into
it ! But who can have left it here ? " and she looked
The Hedley Kow 5 i
round about, as if the person it belonged to must be not
far off. But she could see no one.
" Maybe it'll have a hole in it," she said thought-
fully :-
" Ay, that'll be how they've left it lying, hinny. But
then it'd do fine to put a flower in for the window ; I'm
thinking I'll just take it home, anyways." And she bent
her stiff old back, and lifted the lid to look inside.
" Mercy me ! " she cried, and jumped back to the other
side of the road ; " if it isrit brim full o gold PIECKS ! ! ''
For a while she could do nothing but walk round and
round her treasure, admiring the yellow gold and wonder-
ing at her good luck, and saying to herself about every
two minutes, " Well, I do be feeling rich and grand ! "
But presently she began to think how she could best take
it home with her ; and she couldn't see any other way
than by fastening one end of her shawl to it, and so
dragging it after her along the road.
" It'll certainly be soon dark," she said to herself
" and folk'll not see what I'm bringing home with me,
and so I'll have all the night to myself to think what I'll
do with it. I could buy a grand house and all, and live
like the Queen herself, and not do a stroke of work all
day, but just sit by the fire with a cup of tea ; or maybe
I'll give it to the priest to keep for me, and get a piece as
I'm wanting ; or maybe I'll just bury it in a hole at the
garden-foot, and put a bit on the chimney, between the
chiney teapot and the spoons — for ornament, like. Ah !
I feel so grand, I don't know myself rightly ! "
And by this time, being already rather tired with
dragging such a heavy weight after her, she stopped to
52 English Fairy Tales
rest for a minute, turning to make sure that her treasure
was safe.
But when she looked at it, it wasn't a pot of gold at
all, but a great lump of shining silver !
She stared at it, and rubbed her eyes and stared at it
again ; but she couldn't make it look like anything but
a great lump of silver. " I'd have sworn it was a pot of
gold," she said at last, " but I reckon I must have been
dreaming. Ay, now, that's a change for the better ; it'll
be far less trouble to look after, and none so easy stolen ;
yon gold pieces would have been a sight of bother to
keep 'em safe — Ay, I'm well quit of them ; and with my
bonny lump I'm as rich as rich ! "
And she set off homewards again, cheerfully planning
all the grand things she was going to do with her money.
It wasn't very long, however, before she got tired again
and stopped once more to rest for a minute or two.
Again she turned to look at her treasure, and as soon
as she set eyes on it she cried out in astonishment. " Oh
my ! " said she ; " now it's a !ump o' iron ! Well, that
beats all ; and it's just real convenient ! I can sell it as
easy as easy, and get a lot o' penny pieces for it. Ay,
hinny, an' it's much handier than a lot o' yer gold and
silver as'd have kept me from sleeping o' nights thinking
the neighbours were robbing me — an' it's a real good
thing to have by you in a house, ye niver can tell what ye
mightn't use it for, an' it'll sell — ay, for a real lot. Rich ?
I'll be just rolling!"
And on she trotted again chuckling to herself on her
good luck, till presently she glanced over her shoulder,
"just to make sure it was there still," as she said to herself.
The Hedley Kow 53
" Eh my ! " she cried as soon as saw it ; " if it hasn't
gone and turned itself into a great stone this time ! Now,
how could it have known that I was just terrible wanting
something to hold my door open with ? Ay, if that isn't
a good change ! Hinny, it's a fine thing to have such
good luck."
And, all in a hurry to see how the stone would look in
its corner by her door, she trotted off down the hill, and
stopped at the foot, beside her own little gate.
When she had unlatched it, she turned to unfasten her
shawl from the stone, which this time seemed to lie un-
changed and peaceably on the path beside her. There was
still plenty of light, and she could see the stone quite
plainly as she bent her stiff back over it, to untie the
shawl end; when, all of a sudden, it seemed to give a jump
and a squeal, and grew in a moment as big as a great
horse ; then it threw down four lanky legs, and shook out
two long ears, flourished a tail, and went off kicking its
feet into the air, and laughing like a naughty mocking
boy.
The old woman stared after it, till it was fairly out of
sight.
" WELL !" she said at last, " I do be the luckiest body
hereabouts ! Fancy me seeing the Hedley Kow all to
myself, and making so free with it too ! I can tell you,
I do feel that GRAND—
And she went into her cottage and sat down by the
fire to think over her good luck.
Gobborn Seer
ONCE there was a man Gobborn Seer, and he had
a son called Jack.
One day he sent him out to sell a sheep-skin,
and Gobborn said, " You must bring me back the skin and
the value of it as well."
So Jack started, but he could not find any who would
leave him the skin and give him its price too. So he
came home discouraged.
But Gobborn Seer said, " Never mind, you must take
another turn at it to-morrow."
So he tried again, and nobody wished to buy the skin
on those terms.
When he came home his father said, " You must go and
try your luck to-morrow," and the third day it seemed as if
it would be the same thing over again. And he had half a
mind not to go back at all, his father would be so vexed.
As he came to a bridge, like the Creek Road one yonder,
he leaned on the parapet thinking of his trouble, and that
perhaps it would be foolish to run away from home, but
he could not tell which to do ; when he saw a girl wash-
Gobborn Seer
ing her clothes on the bank below. She looked up and
said, " If it may be no offence asking, what is it you feel
so badly about ? "
" My father has given me this skin, and I am to fetch
it back and the price of it beside."
" Is that all ? Give it here, and it's easy done."
So the girl washed the skin in the stream, took the
wool from it, and paid him the value of it, and gave him
the skin to carry back.
His father was well pleased, and said to Jack, "That
was a witty woman ; she would make you a good wife.
Do you think you could tell her again ? "
Jack thought he could, so his father told him to go
by-and-by to the bridge, and see if she was there, and if
so bid her come home to take tea with them.
And sure enough Jack spied her and told her how his
old father had a wish to meet her, and would she be
pleased to drink tea with them.
The girl thanked him kindly, and said she could come
the next day ; she was too busy at the moment.
" All the better," said Jack, " I'll have time to make
ready."
So when she came Gobborn Seer could see she was a
witty woman, and he asked her if she would marry his
Jack. She said "Yes," and they were married.
Not long after, Jack's father told him he must come
with him and build the finest castle that ever was seen,
for a king who wished to outdo all others by his wonder-
ful castle.
And as they went to lay the foundation-stone, Gobborn
Seer said to Jack, " Can't you shorten the way for me ? "
56 English Fairy Tales
But Jack looked ahead and there was a long road
before them, and he said, " I don't see, father, how I
could break a bit off."
" You're no good to me, then, and had best be off
home."
So poor Jack turned back, and when he came in his
wife said, " Why, how's this you've come alone ? " and he
told her what his father had said and his answer.
" You stupid," said his witty wife, " if you had told a
tale you would have shortened the road ! Now listen till
I tell you a story, and then catch up with Gobborn Seer
and begin it at once. He will like hearing it, and by the
time you are done you will have reached the foundation-
stone."
So Jack sweated and overtook his father. Gobborn
Seer said never a word, but Jack began his story, and
the road was shortened as his wife had said.
When they came to the end of their journey, they
started building of this castle which was to outshine all
others. Now the wife had advised them to be intimate
with the servants, and so they did as she said, and it was
" Good-morning " and " Good-day to you " as they passed
in and out.
Now, at the end of a twelvemonth, Gobborn, the wise
man, had built such a castle thousands were gathered to
admire it.
And the king said : " The castle is done. I shall return
to-morrow and pay you all."
' I have just a ceiling to finish in an upper lobby," said
Gobborn, " and then it wants nothing."
But after the king was gone off, the housekeeper sent for
Gobborn Seer 57
Gobborn and Jack, and told them that she had watched for
a chance to warn them, for the king was so afraid they
should carry their art away and build some other king as
fine a castle, he meant to take their lives on the morrow.
Gobborn told Jack to keep a good heart, and they would
come off all right.
When the king had come back Gobborn told him he
had been unable to complete the job for lack of a tool left
at home, and he should like to send Jack after it.
" No, no," said the king, " cannot one of the men do
the errand ? "
" No, they could not make themselves understood," said
the Seer, " but Jack could do the errand."
" You and your son are to stop here. But how will it
do if I send my own son ? "
" That will do."
So Gobborn sent by him a message to Jack's wife.
" Give him Crooked and Straight ! "
Now there was a little hole in the wall rather high up,
and Jack's wife tried to reach up into a chest there after
" crooked and straight," but at last she asked the king's
son to help her, because his arms were longest.
But when he was leaning over the chest she caught
him by the two heels, and threw him into the chest, and
fastened it down. So there he was, both " crooked and
straight ! "
Then he begged for pen and ink, which she brought
him, but he was not allowed out, and holes were bored
that he might breathe.
When his letter came, telling the king, his father, he
was to be let free when Gobborn and Jack were safe
English Fairy Tales
home, the king saw he must settle for the building, and
let tl;em come away.
As they left Gobborn told him : Now that Jack was
done with this work, he should soon build a castle for his
witty wife far superior to the king's, which he did, and
they lived there happily ever after.
Lawkamercyme
T
HERE was an old woman, as I've heard tell,
She went to the market her eggs for to sell ;
She went to the market, all on a market-day,
And she fell asleep on the king's highway.
There came by a pedlar, whose name was Stout,
He cut her petticoats round about ;
He cut her petticoats up to the knees,
Which made the old woman to shiver and freeze.
When this old woman first did wake,
She began to shiver, and she began to shake ;
She began to wonder, and she began to cry —
" Lawkamercyme, this is none of I ! "
" But if it be I, as I do hope it be,
I've a little dog at home, and he'll know me ;
If it be I, he'll wag his little tail,
And if it be not I, he'll loudly bark and wail."
60 English Fairy Tales
Home went the little woman, all in the dark
Up got the little dog, and he began to bark ;
He began to bark, so she began to cry—
" Lawkamercyme, this is none of I ! "
-^K^fiCLv.^?- "-
Tattercoats
IN a great Palace by the sea there once dwelt a very
rich old lord, who had neither wife nor children
living, only one little granddaughter, whose face he
had never seen in all her life. He hated her bitterly,
because at her birth his favourite daughter died ; and
when the old nurse brought him the baby, he swore, that
it might live or die as it liked, but he would never look-
on its face as long as it lived.
So he turned his back, and sat by his window looking
out over the sea, and weeping great tears for his lost
daughter, till his white hair and beard grew down over
his shoulders and twined round his chair and crept into
the chinks of the floor and his tears, dropping on to
the window-ledge, wore a channel through the stone,
and ran away in a little river to the great sea. And,
meanwhile, his granddaughter grew up with no one to
care for her, or clothe her ; only the old nurse, when no
one was by, would sometimes give her a dish of scraps
from the kitchen, or a torn petticoat from the rag-bag ;
62 English Fairy Tales
while the other servants of the Palace would drive her
from the house with blows and mocking words, calling
her " Tattercoats," and pointing at her bare feet and
shoulders, till she ran away crying, to hide among the
bushes.
And so she grew up, with little to eat or to wear,
spending her days in the fields and lanes, with only the
gooseherd for a companion, who would play to her so
merrily on his little pipe, when she was hungry, or cold,
or tired, that she forgot all her troubles, and fell to
dancing, with his flock of noisy geese for partners.
But, one day, people told each other that the King
was travelling through the land, and in the town near by
was to give a great ball, to all the lords and ladies of
the country, when the Prince, his only son, was to choose
a wife.
One of the royal invitations was brought to the Palace
by the sea, and the servants carried it up to the old lord
who still sat by his window, wrapped in his long white
hair and weeping into the little river that was fed by his
tears.
But when he heard the King's command, he dried his
eyes and bade them bring shears to cut him loose, for his
hair had bound him a fast prisoner and he could not
move. And then he sent them for rich clothes, and
jewels, which he put on ; and he ordered them to saddle
the white horse, with gold and silk, that he might ride to
meet the King.
Meanwhile Tattercoats had heard of the great doings
in the town, and she sat by the kitchen-door weeping
because she could not go to see them. And when the
Tattercoats 63
old nurse heard her crying she went to the Lord of the
Palace, and begged him to take his granddaughter with
him to the King's ball.
But he only frowned and told her to be silent, while
the servants laughed and said, "Tattercoats is happy
in her rags, playing with the gooseherd, let her be — it is
all she is fit "for."
A second, and then a third time, the old nurse begged
him to let the girl go with him, but she was answered
only by black looks and fierce words, till she was driven
from the room by the jeering servants, with blows and
mocking words.
Weeping over her ill-success, the old nurse went to
look for Tattercoats ; but the girl had been turned from
the door by the cook, and had run away to tell her friend,
the gooseherd, how unhappy she was because she could
not go to the King's ball.
But when the gooseherd had listened to her story, he
bade her cheer up, and proposed that they should go
together into the town to see the King, and all the fine
things ; and when she looked sorrowfully down at her
rags and bare feet, he played a note or two upon his pipe,
so gay and merry, that she forgot all about her tears and
her troubles, and before she well knew, the herdboy had
taken her by the hand, and she, and he, and the geese
before them, were dancing down the road towards the town.
Before they had gone very far, a handsome young man,
splendidly dressed, rode up and stopped to ask the way
to the castle where the King was staying ; and when he
found that they too were going thither, he got off his
horse and walked beside them along the road.
64 English Fairy Tales
The herdboy pulled out his pipe and played a low
sweet tune, and the stranger looked again and again at
Tattercoat's lovely face till he fell deeply in love with her,
and begged her to marry him.
But she only laughed, and shook her golden head.
" You would be finely put to shame if you had a
goose- girl for your wife !" said she ; "go and ask one of
the great ladies you will see to-night at the King's ball,
and do not flout poor Tattercoats."
Hut the more she refused him the sweeter the pipe
played, and the deeper the young man fell in love ; till at
last he begged her, as a proof of his sincerity, to come
that night at twelve to the King's ball, just as she was,
with the herdboy and his geese, and in her torn petticoat
and bare feet, and he would dance with her before the
King and the lords and ladies, and present her to them
all, as his dear and honoured Bride.
So when night came, and the hall in the castle was full
of light and music, and the lords and ladies were dancing
before the King, just as the clock struck twelve, Tatter-
coats and the herdboy, followed by his flock of noisy geese,
entered at the great doors, and walked straight up the
ball-room, while on either side the ladies whispered, the
lords laughed, and the King seated at the far end stared
in amazement.
But as they came in front of the throne, Tattercoat's
lover rose from beside the King, and came to meet her.
Taking her by the hand, he kissed her thrice before
them all, and turned to the King.
" Father ! " he said, for it was the Prince himself,
" I have made my choice, and here is my bride, the
TATTERCOATS
Tattercoats 65
loveliest girl in all the land, and the sweetest as
well ! "
Before he had finished speaking, the Herdboy put his
pipe to his lips and played a few low notes that sounded
like a bird singing far off in the woods; and as he played,
Tattercoat's rags were changed to shining robes sewn
with glittering jewels, a golden crown lay upon her golden
hair, and the flock of geese behind her, became a crowd
of dainty pages, bearing her long train.
And as the King rose to greet her as his daughter, the
trumpets sounded loudly in honour of the new Princess,
and the people outside in the street said to each other :
" Ah ! now the Prince has chosen for his wife the
loveliest girl in all the land ! "
But the gooseherd was never seen again, and no one
knew what became of him ; while the Old Lord went
home once more to his Palace by the sea, for he could
not stay at Court, when he had sworn never to look on
his granddaughter's face.
So there he still sits by his window, if you could only
see him, as you some day may, weeping more bitterly than
ever, as he looks out over the sea.
The Wee Bannock
, grannie, come tell us the story of the wee
bannock."
" Hout, childer, ye've heard it a hundred times afore. I
needn't tell it over again"
" Ah, but, grannie, ifs such a fine one. You must tell it.
Just once''
" Welly zuell, if ye' II all promise to be good, I'll tell it ye
again.'
There lived an old man and an old woman at the side of
a burn. They had two cows, five hens and a cock, a cat and
two kittens. The old man looked after the cows, and the
old wife span on the distaff! The kittens oft gripped at
the old wife's spindle, as it tussled over the hearthstone.
" Sho, sho," she would say, " go away ; " and so it tussled
about.
One day, after breakfast, she thought she would have
a bannock. So she baked two oatmeal bannocks, and set
them on to the fire to harden. After a while, the old
man came in, and sat down beside the fire, and takes one
of the bannocks, and snaps it through the middle.
The Wee Bannock 67
When the other one sees this, it runs off as fast as it
could, and the old wife after it, with the spindle in the
one hand, and the distaff in the other. But the wee
bannock ran away and out of sight, and ran till it came
to a pretty large thatched house, and it ran boldly up in-
side to the fireside ; and there were three tailors sitting
on a big bench. When they saw the wee bannock come
in, they jumped up, and got behind the goodwife, that
was carding tow by the fire. " Hout," quoth she, " be no
afeard ; it's but a wee bannock. Grip it, and I'll give ye
a sup of milk with it." Up she gets with the tow-cards
and the tailor with the goose, and the two 'prentices, the
one with the big shears, and the other with the lawbrod ;
but it dodged them, and ran round about the fire ; and
one of the 'prentices, thinking to snap it with the shears
fell into the ashes. The tailor cast the goose, and the
goodwife the tow-cards ; but it wouldn't do. The bannock
ran away, and ran till it came to a wee house at the road-
68 English Fairy Tales
side ; and in it runs, and there was a weaver sitting at the
loom, and the wife winding a clue of yarn.
" Tibby," quoth he, " what's that ? "
" Oh," quoth she, " it's a wee bannock."
" It's well come," quoth he, " for our porrage were but
thin to-day. Grip it, my woman ; grip it."
"Ay," quoth she ; " what recks ! That's a clever
bannock. Catch it, Willie ; catch it, man."
" Hout," quoth Willie, " cast the clue at it."
But the bannock dodged round about, and off it went,
and over the hill, like a new-tarred sheep or a mad cow,
And forward it runs to the neat-house, to the fireside;
and there was the goodwife churning.
" Come away, wee bannock," quoth she ; " I'll have
cream and bread to-day." But the wee bannock dodged
round about the churn, and the wife after it, and in the
hurry she had near-hand overturned the churn. And
before she got it set right again, the wee bannock was off
and down the brae to the mill ; and in it ran.
The miller was sifting meal in the trough ; but,
looking up : " Ay," quoth he, " it's a sign of plenty when
ye're running about, and nobody to look after ye. But I
like a bannock and cheese. Come your way hither, and
I'll give ye a night's quarters." But the bannock
wouldn't trust itself with the miller and his cheese. So it
turned and ran its way out ; but the miller didn't fash his
head with it.
So it toddled away and ran till it came to the smithy ;
and in it runs, and up to the anvil. The smith was
making horse-nails. Quoth he : "I like a glass of good
ale and a well-toasted bannock. Come your way in by
The Wee Bannock 69
here." But the bannock was frightened when it heard about
the ale, and turned and was off as hard as it could, and the
smith after it, and cast the hammer. But it missed, and
the bannock was out of sight in a crack, and ran till it
came to a farmhouse with a good peat-stack at the end
of it. Inside it runs to the fireside. The goodman was
cloving lint, and the goodwife heckling. " O Janet,"
quoth he, " there's a wee bannock ; I'll have the half of it."
" Well, John, I'll have the other half. Hit it over the
back with the clove." But the bannock played dodgings.
" Hout, tout," quoth the wife, and made the heckle flee at
it. But it was too clever for her.
And off and up the burn it ran to the next house,
and rolled its way to the fireside. The goodwife was
stirring the soup, and the goodman plaiting sprit-
binnings for the cows. " Ho, Jock," quoth the goodwife,
"come here. You're always crying about a wee bannock.
Here's one. Come in, haste ye, and I'll help ye to grip it."
" Ay, mother, where is it ? "
" See there. Run over on that side."
But the bannock ran in behind the goodman's chair.
Jock fell among the sprits. The goodman cast a binning,
and the goodwife the spurtle. But it was too clever for
Jock and her both. It was off and out of sight in a
crack, and through among the whins, and down the road
to the next house, and in and snug by the fireside. The
folk were just sitting down to their soup, and the good-
wife scraping the pot. " Look," quoth she, " there's a wee
bannock come in to warm itself at our fireside."
" Shut the door," quoth the goodman, " and we'll try to
get a grip of it.'
jo English Fairy Tales
When the bannock heard that, it ran out of the house
and they after it with their spoons, and the goodman shied
his hat. But it rolled away and ran, and ran, till it came
to another house ; and when it went in, the folk were just
going to their beds. The goodman was taking off his
breeches, and the goodwife raking the fire.
" What's that ? " quoth he.
" Oh," quoth she, " it's a wee bannock."
Quoth he, " I could eat the half of it."
"Grip it," quoth the wife, "and I'll have a bit too."
" Cast your breeches at it ! " The goodman shied his
breeches, and had nearly smothered it. But it wriggled
out, and ran, and the goodman after it without his
breeches ; and there was a clean chase over the craft
park, and in among the whins ; and the goodman lost it,
and had to come away, trotting home half-naked. But
now it was grown dark, and the wee bannock couldn't
see ; but it went into the side of a big whin bush, and
into a fox's hole. The fox had had no meat for two
days. " O welcome, welcome/' quoth the fox, and
snapped it in two in the middle. And that was the end
of the wee bannock.
Johnny Gloke
JOHNNY GLOKE was a tailor by trade, but like a
man of spirit he grew tired of his tailoring, and
wished to follow some other path that would lead
to honour and fame. But he did not know what to do at
first to gain fame and fortune, so for a time he was fonder
of basking idly in the sun than in plying the needle and
scissors. One warm day as he was enjoying his ease, he
was annoyed by the flies alighting on his bare ankles.
He brought his hand down on them with force and killed
a goodly number of them. On counting the victims of
his valour, he was overjoyed at his success ; his heart
rose to the doing of great deeds, and he gave vent to his
feelings in the saying : —
" Well done ! Johnny Gloke.
Killt fifty flies at one stroke."
His resolution was now taken to cut out his path to
fortune and honour. So he took down from its resting-
place a rusty old sword that had belonged to some of his
forebears, and set out in search of adventures. After
travelling a long way, he came to a country that was
English Fairy Tales
much troubled by two giants, whom no one was bold
enough to meet, and strong enough to overcome. He
was soon told of the giants, and learned that the King
of the country had offered a great reward and the hand
of his daughter in marriage to the man who should rid
his land of this scourge. John's heart rose to the deed,
and he offered himself for the service. The great haunt
of the giants was a wood, and John set out with his old
sword to perform his task. When he reached the wood,
he laid himself down to think what course he would
follow, for he knew how weak he was compared to those
he had undertaken to kill. He had not waited long,
when he saw them coming with a waggon to fetch wood
for fuel. My ! they were big ones, with huge heads and
long tusks for teeth. Johnny hid himself in the hollow
of a tree, thinking only of his own safety. Feeling him-
self safe, he peeped out of his hiding-place, and watched
the two at work. Thus watching he formed his plan of
action. He picked up a pebble, threw it with force at
one of them, and struck him a sharp blow on the head.
The giant in his pain turned at once on his companion,
and blamed him in strong words for hitting him. The
other denied in anger that he had thrown the pebble.
John now saw himself on the high way to gain his
reward and the hand of the king's daughter. He kept
still, and carefully watched for an opportunity of striking
another blow. He soon found it, and right against the
giant's head went another pebble. The injured giant fell
on his companion in fury, and the two belaboured each
other till they were utterly tired out. They sat down on
a log to breathe, rest, and recover themselves.
Johnny Gloke
73
While sitting, one of them said, "Well, all the king's
army was not able to take us, but I fear an old woman
with a rope's end would be too much for us now."
" If that be so," said Johnny Gloke, as he sprang, bold
as a lion, from his hiding-place, " What do you say to
Johnny Gloke with his old roosty sword ? " So saying
he fell upon them, cut off their heads, and returned in
triumph. He received the king's daughter in marriage
and for a time lived in peace and happiness. He never
told the mode he followed in his dealing with the
giants.
Some time after a rebellion broke out among the
subjects of his father-in-law. John, on the strength of
his former valiant deed, was chosen to quell the rebellion.
His heart sank within him, but he could not refuse,
and so lose his great name. He was mounted on the
fiercest horse that ever saw sun or wind, and set out on
his desperate task. He was not accustomed to ride on
horseback, and he soon lost all control of his steed. It
galloped off at full speed, in the direction of the rebel
army. In its wild career it passed under the gallows
that stood by the wayside. The gallows was somewhat
74 English Fairy Tales
old and frail, and down it fell on the horse's neck. Still
the horse made no stop, but always forward at furious
speed towards the rebels. On seeing this strange sight
approaching towards them at such a speed they were
seized with terror, and cried out to one another, " There
comes Johnny Gloke that killed the two giants with the
gallows on his horse's neck to hang us all." They broke
their ranks, fled in dismay, and never stopped till they
reached their homes. Thus was Johnny Gloke a second
time victorious. So in due time he came to the throne
and lived a long, happy, and good life as king.
Coat o' Clay
ONCE on a time, in the parts of Lindsey, there
lived a wise woman. Some said she was a
witch, but they said it in a whisper, lest she
should overhear and do them a mischief, and truly it
was not a thing one could be sure of, for she was never
known to hurt any one, which, if she were a witch, she
would have been sure to do. But she could tell you
what your sickness was, and how to cure it with herbs,
and she could mix rare possets that would drive the
pain out of you in a twinkling ; and she could advise
you what to do if your cows were ill, or if you'd got
into trouble, and tell the maids whether their sweethearts
were likely to be faithful.
But she was ill-pleased if folks questioned her too
much or too long, and she sore misliked fools. A many
came to her asking foolish things, as was their nature,
and to them she never gave counsel — at least of a kind
that could aid them much.
Well, one day, as she sat at her door paring potatoes,
over the stile and up the path came a tall lad with a
j6 English Fairy Tales
long nose and goggle eyes and his hands in his
pockets.
" That's a fool, if ever was one, and a fool's luck in his
face," said the wise woman to herself with a nod of her
head, and threw a potato skin over her left shoulder to
keep off ill-chance.
" Good-day, missis," said the fool. " I be come to see
thee."
•' So thou art," said the wise woman ; " I see that.
How's all in thy folk this year?"
" Oh, fairly," answered he. " But they say I be a
fool."
" Ay, so thou art," nodded she, and threw away a bad
potato. " I see that too. But what wouldst o' me ? I
keep no brains for sale."
" Well, see now. Mother says I'll ne'er be wiser all
my born days ; but folks tell us thou canst do every-
thing. Can't thee teach me a bit, so they'll think me a
clever fellow at home ? "
" Hout-tout ! " said the wise woman ; "thou'rt a bigger
fool than I thought. Nay, I can't teach thee nought,
lad ; but I tell thee summat. Thou'lt be a fool all thy
days till thou gets a coat o' clay ; and then thou'lt
know more than me."
" Hi, missis ; what sort of a coat's that ? " said he.
" That's none o' my business," answered she. " Thou'st
got to find out that."
And she took up her potatoes and went into her
house.
The fool took off his cap and scratched his head.
" It's a queer kind of coat to look for, sure-/;/," said he
Coat o' Clay 77
" I never heard of a coat o' clay. But then I be a fool,
that's true."
So he walked on till he came to the drain near by,
with just a pickle of water and a foot of mud in it.
" Here's muck," said the fool, much pleased, and he
got in and rolled in it spluttering. " Hi, yi ! " said he —
for he had his mouth full — " I've got a coat o' clay now
to be sure. I'll go home and tell my mother I'm a wise
man and not a fool any longer." And he went on
home.
Presently he came to a cottage with a lass at the door.
" Morning, fool," said she ; " hast thou been ducked in
the horsepond ? l'
" Fool yourself," said he, " the wise woman says I'll
know more'n she when I get a coat o' clay, and here it
is. Shall I marry thee, lass ? "
" Ay," said she, for she thought she'd like a fool for a
husband, " when shall it be ? "
'• I'll come and fetch thee when I've told my mother,"
said the fool, and he gave her his lucky penny and went
on.
When he got home his mother was on the doorstep.
" Mother, I've got a coat o' clay," said he.
" Coat o' muck," said she ; " and what of that ? "
"Wise woman said I'd know more than she when I
got a coat o' clay," said he, " so I down in the drain and
got one, and I'm not a fool any longer."
" Very good," said his mother, " now thou canst get a
wife."
" Ay," said he, " I'm going to marry so-an'-so."
" What ! " said his mother, " that lass ? No, and that
78 English Fairy Tales
thou'lt not. She's nought but a brat, with ne'er a cow or
a cabbage o' her own."
" But I gave her my luck penny," said the fool.
" Then thou'rt a bigger fool than ever, for all thy coat
o' clay ! " said his mother, and banged the door in his
face.
"Dang it!" said the fool, and scratched his head, "that's
not the right sort o' clay sure-/;/."
So back he went to the highroad and sat down on the
bank of the river close by, looking at the water, which
was cool and clear.
By-and-by he fell asleep, and before he knew what
he was about — plump — he rolled off into the river with
a splash, and scrambled out, dripping like a drowned
rat.
" Dear, dear," said he, " I'd better go and get dry in
the sun." So up he went to the highroad, and lay down
in the dust, rolling about so that the sun should get at
him all over.
Presently, when he sat up and looked down at himself,
he found that the dust had caked into a sort of skin over
his wet clothes till you could not see an inch of them,
they were so well covered. " Hi, yi ! " said he, "here's
a coat o' clay ready made, and a fine one. See now, I'm
a clever fellow this time sure-fy, for I've found what I
wanted without looking for it ! Wow, but it's a fine
feeling to be so smart ! "
And he sat and scratched his head, and thought about
his own cleverness.
But all of a sudden, round the corner came the squire
on horseback, full gallop, as if the boggles were after
Coat o' Clay 79
him ; but the fool had to jump, even though the squire
pulled his horse back on his haunches.
" What the dickens," said the squire, " do you mean by
lying in the middle of the road like that ? "
" Well, master," said the fool, " I fell into the water
and got wet, so I lay down in the road to get dry ; and
I lay down a fool an' got up a wise man."
" How's that ? " said the squire.
So the fool told him about the wise woman and the
coat o' clay.
" Ah, ah ! " laughed the squire, " whoever heard of a
wise man lying in the middle of the highroad to be ridden
over ? Lad, take my word for it, you are a bigger fool
than ever," and he rode on laughing.
" Dang it ! " said the fool, as he scratched his head.
" I've not got the right sort of coat yet, then." And he
choked and spluttered in the dust that the squire's horse
had raised.
So on he went in a melancholy mood till he came to
an inn, and the landlord at his door smoking.
" Well, fool," said he, " thou'rt fine and dirty."
" Ay," said the fool, " I be dirty outside an' dusty in,
but it's not the right thing yet."
And he told the landlord all about the wise woman
and the coat o' clay.
" Hout-tout ! " said the landlord, with a wink. " I
know what's wrong. Thou'st got a skin o' dirt outside
and all dry dust inside. Thou must moisten it, lad, with
a good drink, and then thou'lt have a real all-over coat
o' clay."
" Hi," said the fool, " that's a good word."
8o
English Fairy Tales
So down he sat and began to drink. But it was
wonderful how much liquor it took to moisten so much
dust ; and each time he got to the bottom of the pot
he found he was still dry. At last he began to feel very-
merry and pleased with himself.
" Hi, yi ! " said he. " I've got a real coat o: clay now
outside and in — what a difference it do make, to be sure.
I feel another man now — so smart."
And he told the landlord he was certainly a wise man
now, though he couldn't speak over-distinctly after
drinking so much. So up he got, and thought he would
go home and tell his mother she hadn't a fool for a son
any more.
But just as he was trying to get through the inn-door
which would scarcely keep still long enough for him to find
it, up came the landlord and caught him by the sleeve.
" See here, master," said he, " thou
hastn't paid for thy score — where's thy
money ? "
" Haven't any ! " said the fool, and
pulled out his pockets to show they were
empty.
" What ! " said the landlord, and swore ;
" thou'st drunk all my liquor and haven't
got nought to pay for it with ! "
" Hi ! " said the fool. " You told me
to drink so as to get a coat o' clay ; but
as I'm a wise man now I don't mind
helping thee along in the world a bit, for though I'm a
smart fellow I'm not too proud to my friends."
" Wise man ! smart fellow ! '' said the landlord, " and
Coat o' Clay 81
help me along, wilt thee ? Dang it ! thou'rt the biggest
fool I ever saw, and it's I'll help thec first — out o' this ! "
And he kicked him out of the door into the road and
swore at him.
" Hum," said the fool, as he lay in the dust, " I'm not
so wise as I thought. I guess I'll go back to the wise
woman and tell her there's a screw loose somewhere."
So up he got and went along to her house, and found
her sitting at the door.
" So thou'rt come back," said she, with a nod. " What
dost thou want with me now ? "
So he sat down and told her how he'd tried to get a
coat o' clay, and he wasn't any wiser for all of it.
" No," said the wise woman, " thou'rt a bigger fool
than ever, my lad."
"So they all say," sighed the fool; "but where can I
get the right sort of coat o' clay, then, missis ? "
" When thou'rt done with this world, and thy folk put
thee in the ground," said the wise woman. " That's the
only coat o' clay as'll make such as thee wise, lad. Born
a fool, die a fool, and be a fool thy life long, and that's the
truth ! "
And she went into the house and shut the door.
" Dang it," said the fool. " I must tell my mother she
was right after all, and that she'll never have a wise man
for a son ! "
And he went off home,.
The Three Cows
THERE was a farmer, and he had three cows;
fine fat beauties they were. One was called
Facey, the other Diamond, and the third Beauty.
One morning he went into his cowshed, and there he found
Facey so thin that the wind would have blown her away.
Her skin hung loose about her, all her flesh was gone, and
she stared out of her great eyes as though she'd seen a
ghost ; and what was more, the fireplace in the kitchen
was one great pile of wood-ash. Well, he was bothered
with it ; he could not see how all this had come about.
Next morning his wife went out to the shed, and see!
Diamond was for all the world as wisht a looking
creature as Facey — nothing but a bag of bones, all the
flesh gone, and half a rick of wood was gone too ; but
the fireplace was piled up three feet high with white
wood-ashes. The farmer determined to watch the third
night ; so he hid in a closet which opened out of the
parlour, and he left the door just ajar, that he might see
what passed.
Tick, tick, went the clock, and the farmer was nearly
The Three Cows 83
tired of waiting ; he had to bite his little finger to keep
himself awake, when suddenly the door of his house flew
open, and in rushed maybe a thousand pixies, laughing
and dancing and dragging at Beauty's halter till they
had brought the cow into the middle of the room. The
farmer really thought he should have died with fright, and
so perhaps he would had not curiosity kept him alive.
Tick, tick, went the clock, but he did not hear it now.
He was too intent staring at the pixies and his last
beautiful cow. He saw them throw her down, fall on
her, and kill her ; then with their knives they ripped her
open, and flayed her as clean as a whistle. Then out
ran some of the little people and brought in firewood
and made a roaring blaze on the hearth, and there they
cooked the flesh of the cow — they baked and they
boiled, they stewed and they fried.
" Take care," cried one, who seemed to be the king,
" let no bone be broken."
Well, when they had all eaten, and had devoured
every scrap of beef on the cow, they began playing
games with the bones, tossing them one to another.
84 English Fairy Tales
One little leg-bone fell close to the closet-door, and
the farmer was so afraid lest the pixies should come there
and find him in their search for the bone, that he put
out his hand and drew it in to him. Then he saw the
king stand on the table and say, " Gather the bones ! "
Round and round flew the imps, picking up the bones.
" Arrange them," said the king ; and they placed them all
in their proper positions in the hide of the cow. Then
they folded the skin over them, and the king struck the
heap of bone and skin with his rod. Whisht ! up sprang
the cow and lowed dismally. It was alive again ; but,
alas ! as the pixies dragged it back to its stall, it halted
in the off forefoot, for a bone was missing.
" The cock crew,
Away they flew,"
and the farmer crept trembling to bed.
The Blinded Giant
AT Dalton, near Thirsk, in Yorkshire, there is a
mill. It has quite recently been rebuilt ; but
when I was at Dalton, six years ago, the old
building stood. In front of the house was a long mound
which went by the name of " the giant's grave," and in the
mill you can see a long blade of iron something like a
scythe-blade, but not curved, which was called " the
giant's knife," because of a very curious story which is
told of this knife. Would you like to hear it ? Well,
it isn't very long.
There once lived a giant at this mill who had only one
eye in the middle of his forehead, and he ground men's
bones to make his bread. One day he captured on
Pilmoor a lad named Jack, and instead of grinding him
in the mill he kept him grinding as his servant, and
never let him get away. Jack served the giant seven
years, and never was allowed a holiday the whole time.
At last he could bear it no longer. Topcliffe fair was
coming on, and Jack begged that he might be allowed
to go there.
86 English Fairy Tales
" No, no," said the giant, " stop at home and mind your
grinding."
" I've been grinding and grinding these seven years,"
said Jack, " and not a holiday have I had. I'll have one
now, whatever you say."
" We'll see about that," said the giant.
Well, the day was hot, and after dinner the giant lay
down in the mill with his head on a sack and dozed. He
had been eating in the mill, and had laid down a great
loaf of bone bread by his side, and the knife I told you
about was in his hand, but his fingers relaxed their hold
of it in sleep. Jack seized the knife, and holding it with
both his hands drove the blade into the single eye of
the giant, who woke with a howl of agony, and starting
up, barred the door. Jack was again in difficulties, for
he couldn't get out, but he soon found a way out of
them. The giant had a favourite dog, which had also
been sleeping when his master was blinded. So Jack
killed the dog, skinned it, and threw the hide over his
back.
" Bow, wow," says Jack.
" At him, Truncheon," said the giant; "at the little
wretch that I've fed these seven years, and now has
blinded me."
' Bow, wow," says Jack, and ran between the giant's
legs on all-fours, barking till he got to the door. He
unlatched it and was off, and never more was seen at
Dalton Mill.
Scrapefoot
ONCE upon a time, there were three Bears who
lived in a castle in a great wood. One of them
was a great big Bear, and one was a middling
Bear, and one was a little Bear. And in the same wood
there was a Fox who lived all alone, his name was
Scrapefoot. Scrapefoot was very much afraid of the
Bears, but for all that he wanted very much to know all
about them. And one day as he went through the wood
he found himself near the Bears' Castle, and he wondered
whether he could get into the castle. He looked all
about him everywhere, and he could not see any one. So
he came up very quietly, till at last he came up to the
door of the castle, and he tried whether he could open
it. Yes ! the door was not locked, and he opened it just
a little way, and put his nose in and looked, and he could
not see any one. So then he opened it a little way farther,
and put one paw in, and then another paw, and another
and another, and then he was all in the Bears' Castle.
He found he was in a great hall with three chairs in it
— one big, one middling, and one little chair ; and he
88 English Fairy Tales
thought he would like to sit down and rest and' look
about him ; so he sat down on the big chair. But he
found it so hard and uncomfortable that it made his
bones ache, and he jumped down at once and got into
the middling chair, and he turned round and round in it, but
he couldn't make himself comfortable. So then he went to
the little chair and sat down in it, and it was so soft and
warm and comfortable that Scrapefoot was quite happy ;
but all at once it broke to pieces under him and he
couldn't put it together again ! So he got up and began
to look about him again, and on one table he saw three
saucers, of which one was very big, one was middling,
one was quite a little saucer. Scrapefoot was very
thirsty, and he began to drink out of the big saucer. But
he only just tasted the milk in the big saucer, which was
so sour and so nasty that he would not taste another
drop of it. Then he tried the middling saucer, and he
drank a little of that. He tried two or three mouthfuls,
but it was not nice, and then he left it and went to the
little saucer, and the milk in the little saucer was so
sweet and so nice that he went on drinking it till it was
all gone.
Then Scrapefoot thought he would like to go upstairs ;
and he listened and he could not hear any one. So upstairs
he went, and he found a great room with three beds in it ;
one was a big bed, and one was a middling bed, and one
was a little white bed ; and he climbed up into the big
bed, but it was so hard and lumpy and uncomfortable that
he jumped down again at once, and tried the middling bed.
That was rather better, but he could not get comfortably
in it, so after turning about a little while he got up and
Scrapefoot
«9
went to the little bed ; and that was so soft and so warm
and so nice that he fell fast asleep at once.
And after a time the Bears came home, and when they
got into the hall the big Bear went to his chair and said
\ /
" WHO'S BEEN SITTING IN MY CHAIR ? " and the
middling Bear said. " WHO'S BEEN SITTING IN MY CHAIR ? "
o
and the little Bear said, " WJios been sitting in my cJiair
and has broken it all to pieces ? ' And then they went to
have their milk, and the big Bear said, " WHO'S BEEN
90 English Fairy Tales
DRINKING MY MILK ? " and the middling Bear said,
WHO'S BEEN DRINKING MY MILK ? " and the little Bear
said, " WJios been drinking my milk and has drunk it all
up?" Then they went upstairs and into the bedroom,
and the big Bear said, "WHO'S BEEN SLEEPING IN
MY BED ? " and the middling Bear said, " WHO'S BEEN
SLEEPING IN MY BED ? " and the little Bear said, " Whos
been sleeping in my bed ? — and see here he is ! ' So then the
Bears came and wondered what they should do with him ;
and the big Bear said, " Let's hang him ! " and then the
middling Bear said, " Let's drown him ! " and then the little
Bear said, " Let's throw him out of the window." And
then the Bears took him to the window, and the big Bear
took two legs on one side and the middling Bear took
two legs on the other side, and they swung him back-
wards and forwards, backwards and forwards, and out of
the window. Poor Scrapefoot was so frightened, and he
thought every bone in his body must be broken. But he
got up and first shook one leg — no, that was not broken ;
and then another, and that was not broken ; and another
and another, and then he wagged his tail and found
there were no bones broken. So then he galloped off
home as fast as he could go, and never went near the
Bears' Castle again.
The Pedlar of Swaffham
IN the old days when London Bridge was lined with
shops from one end to the other, and salmon swam
under the arches, there lived at Swaffham, in Norfolk,
a poor pedlar. He'd much ado to make his living, trudging
about with his pack at his back and his dog at his heels, and
at the close of the day's labour was but too glad to sit down
and sleep. Now it fell out that one night he dreamed a
dream, and therein he saw the great bridge of London town,
and it sounded in his ears that if he went there he should
hear joyful news. He made little count of the dream, but
on the following night it come back to him, and again on
the third night.
Then he said within himself, " I must needs try the
issue of it," and so he trudged up to London town.
Long was the way and right glad was he when he stood
on the great bridge and saw the tall houses on right hand
92 English Fairy Tales
and left, and had glimpses of the water running and the
ships sailing by. All day long he paced to and fro, but
he heard nothing that might yield him comfort. And
again on the morrow he stood and he gazed — he paced
afresh the length of London Bridge, but naught did he
see and naught did he hear.
Now the third day being come as he still stood and
gazed, a shopkeeper hard by spoke to him.
" Friend," said he, " I wonder much at your fruitless
standing. Have you no wares to sell?"
" No, indeed," quoth the pedlar.
" And you do not beg for alms."
" Not so long as I can keep myself."
" Then what, I pray thee, dost thou want here, and
what may thy business be ? "
" Well, kind sir, to tell the truth, I dreamed that if I
came hither, I should hear good news."
Right heartily did the shopkeeper laugh.
" Nay, thou must, be a fool to take a journey on such a
silly errand. I'll tell thee, poor silly country fellow, that
I myself dream too o' nights, and that last night I dreamt
myself to be in Swaffham, a place clean unknown to me,
but in Norfolk if I mistake not, and methoucfht I was in
o
an orchard behind a pedlar's house, and in that orchard
was a great oak tree. Then meseemed that if I digged I
should find beneath that tree a great treasure. But think
you I'm such a fool as to take on me a long and wearisome
journey and all for a silly dream. No, my good fellow,
learn wit from a wiser man than thyself. Get thee home,
and mind thy business."
When the pedlar heard this he spoke no word, but was
The Pedlar of Swaffham 93
exceeding glad in himself, and returning home speedily,
digged underneath the great oak-tree, and found a pro-
digious great treasure. He grew exceeding rich, but he
did not forget his duty in the pride of his riches. For he
built up again the church at Swaffham, and when he died
they put a statue of him therein all in stone with his pack
at his back and his dog at his heels. And there it
stands to this day to witness if I lie.
The Old Witch
ONCE upon a time there were two girls who lived
with their mother and father. Their father had no
work, and the girls wanted to go away and seek
their fortunes. Now one girl wanted to go to service, and
her mother said she might if she could find a place. So she
started for the town. Well, she went all about the town, but
no one wanted a girl like her. So she went on farther into
the country, and she came to a place where there was an
oven where there was lots of bread baking. And the
bread said, " Little girl, little girl, take us out, take us out.
We have been baking seven years, and no one has come
to take us out." So the girl took out the bread, laid it
on the ground, and went on her way. Then she met a
cow, and the cow said, " Little girl, little girl, milk me,
milk me ! Seven years have I been waiting, and no one
has come to milk me." The girl milked the cow into the
pails that stood by. As she was thirsty she drank some,
and left the rest in the pails by the cow. Then she went
on a little bit farther, and came to an apple-tree, so loaded
with fruit that its branches were breaking down, and the
The Old Witch 95
tree said, " Little girl, little girl, help me shake my fruit.
My branches are breaking, it is so heavy." And the girl
said, " Of course I will, you poor tree." So she shook the
fruit all off, propped up the branches, and left the fruit on
the ground under the tree. Then she went on again till
she came to a house. Now in this house there lived a
witch, and this witch took girls into her house as servants.
And when she heard that this girl had left her home to
seek service, she said that she would try her, and give her
good wages. The witch told the girl what work she was
to do. " You must keep the house clean and tidy, sweep
the floor and the fireplace ; but there is one thing you
must never do. You must never look up the chimney, or
something bad will befall you."
So the girl promised to do as she was told, but one
morning as she was cleaning, and the witch was out, she
forgot what the witch said, and looked up the chimney.
When she did this a great bag of money fell down in her
lap. This happened again and again. So the girl started
to go off home.
When she had gone some way she heard the witch
coming after her. So she ran to the apple-tree and
cried :
" Apple-tree, apple-tree hide me,
So the old witch can't find me;
If she does she'll pick my bones,
And bury me under the marble stones."
So the apple-tree hid her. When the witch came up
she said :
" Tree of mine, tree of mine,
Have you seen a girl
With a willy-willy wag, and a long-tailed bag,
Who's stole my money, all I had?"
96 English Fairy Tales
And the apple-tree said, " No, mother ; not for seven
year."
When the witch had gone down another way, the girl
went on again, and just as she got to the cow she heard
the witch coming after her again, so she ran to the cow
.and cried :
" Cow, cow, hide me,
So the old witch can't find me ;
If she does she'll pick my bones,
And bury me under the marble stones."
So the cow hid her.
When the old witch came up, she looked about and
said to the cow :
" Cow of mine, cow of mine,
Have you seen a girl
With a willy-willy wag, and a long-tailed bag,
Who's stole my money, all I had ?"
And the cow said, " No, mother ; not for seven year."
When the witch had gone off another way, the little girl
went on again, and when she was near the oven she
heard the witch coming after her again, so she ran to the
oven and cried :
" Oven, oven, hide me,
So the old witch can't find me ;
If she does she'll break my bones,
And bury me under the marble stones."
And the oven said, "I've no room, ask the baker." And
the baker hid her behind the oven.
aee OF* MING - R.ee
YOU SSSN A
W^ITH A WILLY WILLY WAQ« AND A LONQ TAILED
\A/DHO STOLE y^YMONSY ALL I HADf
The Old Witch 97
When the witch came up she looked here and there
and everywhere, and then said to the baker :
" Man of mine, man of mine,
Have you seen a girl,
With a willy-willy wag, and a long-tailed bag,
Who's stole my money, all I had ?"
So the baker said, " Look in the oven." The old
witch went to look, and the oven said, " Get in and look
in the furthest corner." The witch did so, and when
she was inside the oven shut her door, and the witch was
kept there for a very long time.
The girl then went off again, and reached her home with
her money bags, married a rich man, and lived happy
ever afterwards.
The other sister then thought she would go and do the
same. And she went the same way. But when she
reached the oven, and the bread said, " Little girl, little
girl, take us out. Seven years have we been baking, and
no one has come to take us out." The girl said, " No, I
don't want to burn my fingers." So she went on till she
met the cow, and the cow said, " Little girl, little girl,
milk me, milk me, do. Seven years have I been waiting,
and no one has come to milk me." But the girl said,
" No, I can't milk you, I'm in a hurry," and went on
faster. Then she came to the apple-tree, and the apple-
tree asked her to help shake the fruit. But the girl said,
" No, I can't ; another day p'raps I may," and went on till
she came to the witch's house. Well, it happened to her
just the same as to the other girl — she forgot what she
was told, and one day when the witch was out, looked up
* G
98 English Fairy Tales
the chimney, and down fell a bag of money. Well, she
thought she would be off at once. When she reached the
apple-tree, she heard the witch coming after her, and she
cried :
" Apple-tree, apple-tree, hide me,
So the old witch can't find me ;
If she does she'll break my bones,
And bury me under the marble stones. ::
But the tree didn't answer, and she ran on further.
Presently the witch came up and said :
" Tree of mine, tree of mine,
Have you seen a girl,
With a willy-willy wag, and a long-tailed bag,
Who's stole my money, all I had?"
The tree said, " Yes, mother ; she's gone down that
way."
So the old witch went after her and caught her, she took
all the money away from her, beat her, and sent her off
home just as she was.
The Three Wishes
ONCE upon a time, and be sure 'twas a long time
ago, there lived a poor woodman in a great
forest, and every day of his life he went out to
fell timber. So one day he started out, and the goodwife
filled his wallet and slung his bottle on his back, that he
might have meat and drink in the forest He had
marked out a huge old oak, which, thought he, would
furnish many and many a good plank. And when he
was come to it, he took his axe in his hand and
swung it round his head as though he were minded to
fell the tree at one stroke. But he hadn't given one blow,
when what should he hear but the pitifullest entreating,
and there stood before him a fairy who prayed and
beseeched him to spare the tree. He was dazed, as you
may fancy, with wonderment and affright, and he couldn't
ioo English Fairy Tales
open his mouth to utter a word. But he found his
tongue at last, and, " Well," said he, " I'll e'en do as
thou wishest."
"You've done better for yourself than you know,"
answered the fairy, "and to show I'm not ungrateful,
I'll grant you your next three wishes, be they what they
may." And therewith the fairy was no more to be seen,
and the woodman slung his wallet over his shoulder and
his bottle at his side, and off he started home.
But the way was long, and the poor man was regularly
dazed with the wonderful thing that had befallen him,
and when he got home there was nothing in his noddle
but the wish to sit down and rest. Maybe, too, 'twas a
trick of the fairy's. Who can tell ? Anyhow down he
sat by the blazing fire, and as he sat he waxed hungry,
though it was a long way off supper-time yet.
" Hasn't thou naught for supper, dame ? " said he to
his wife.
" Nay, not for a couple of hours yet," said she.
" Ah ! " groaned the woodman, " I wish I'd a good
link of black pudding here before me."
No sooner had he said the word, when clatter, clatter,
rustle, rustle, what should come down the chimney but a
link of the finest black pudding the heart of man could
wish for.
If the woodman stared, the goodwife stared three times
as much. " What's all this ? " says she.
Then all the morning's work came back to the wood-
man, and he told his tale right out, from beginning to
end, and as he told it the goodwife glowered and glowered,
and when he had made an end of it she burst out, " Thou
The Three Wishes 101
bee'st but a fool, Jan, thou bee'st but a fool ; and I wish
the pudding were at thy nose, I do indeed."
And before you could say Jack Robinson, there the
goodman sat and his nose was the longer for a noble link
•of black pudding.
He gave a pull but it stuck, and she gave a pull but
at stuck, and they both pulled till they had nigh pulled
the nose off, but it stuck and stuck.
" What's to be done now ? " said he.
" 'Tisn't so very unsightly," said she, looking hard at
him.
Then the woodman saw that if he wished, he must need
wish in a hurry ; and wish he did, that the black pudding
might come off his nose. Well ! there it lay in a dish
on the table, and if the goodman and goodwife didn't
ride in a golden coach, or dress in silk and satin, why
they had at least as fine a black pudding for their supper
as the heart of man could desire.
The Buried Moon
LONG ago, in my grandmother's time, the Car-land
was all in bogs, great pools of black water, and
creeping trickles of green water, and squishy
mools which squirted when you stepped on them.
Well, granny used to say how long before her time the
Moon herself was once dead and buried in the marshes,
and as she used to tell me, I'll tell you all about it.
The Moon up yonder shone and shone, just as she
does now, and when she shone she lighted up the bog-
pools, so that one could walk about almost as safe as in
the day.
But when she didn't shine, out came the Things that
dwelt in the darkness and went about seeking to do evil
and harm ; Bogles and crawling Horrors, all came out
when the Moon didn't shine.
Well, the Moon heard of this, and being kind and good
—as she surely is, shining for us in the night instead of
taking her natural rest — she was main troubled. " I'll
see for myself, I will," said she, " maybe it's not so bad
as folks make out.'
The Buried Moon 103
Sure enough, at the month's end down she stept,
wrapped up in a black cloak, and a black hood over her
yellow shining hair. Straight she went to the bog edge
and looked about her. Water here and water there ;
waving tussocks and trembling mools, and great black
snags all twisted and bent. Before her all was dark-
dark but for the glimmer of the stars in the pools, and
the light that came from her own white feet, stealing out
of her black cloak.
The Moon drew her cloak faster about and trembled,
but she wouldn't go back without seeing all there was to
be seen ; so on she went, stepping as light as the wind in
the summer from tuft to tuft between the greedy gurgling
water-holes. Just as she came near a big black pool her
foot slipped and she was nigh tumbling in. She grabbed
with both hands at a snag near by to steady herself
with, but as she touched it, it twined itself round her
wrists, like a pair of handcuffs, and gript her so that she
couldn't move. She pulled and twisted and fought, but
it was no good. She was fast, and must stay fast.
Presently as she stood trembling in the dark, wonder-
ing if help would come, she heard something calling in
the distance, calling, calling, and then dying away with a
sob, till the marshes were full of this pitiful crying sound ;
then she heard steps floundering along, squishing in the
mud and slipping on the tufts, and through the darkness
she saw a white face with great feared eyes.
'Twas a man strayed in the bogs. Mazed with fear he
struggled on toward the flickering light that looked like
help and safety. And when the poor Moon saw that he
was coming nigher and nigher to the deep hole, further
104 English Fairy Tales
and further from the path, she was so mad and so sorry
that she struggled and fought and pulled harder than
ever. And though she couldn't get loose, she twisted
and turned, till her black hood fell back off her shining
yellow hair, and the beautiful light that came from it
drove away the darkness.
Oh, but the man cried with joy to see the light again.
And at once all evil things fled back into the dark corners,
for they cannot abide the light. So he could see where
he was, and where the path was, and how he could get
out of the marsh. And he was in such haste to get away
from the quicks, and bogles and things that dwelt there,
that he scarce looked at the brave light that came from
The Buried Moon 105
the beautiful shining yellow hair, streaming out over the
black cloak and falling to the water at his feet. And the
Moon herself was so taken up with saving him, and with
rejoicing that he was back on the right path, that she
clean forgot that she needed help herself, and that she
was held fast by the Black Snag.
So off he went ; spent and gasping, and stumbling and
sobbing with joy, flying for his life out of the terrible
bogs. Then it came over the Moon, she would main
like to go with him. So she pulled and fought as if she
were mad, till she fell on her knees, spent with tugging,
at the foot of the snag. And as she lay there, gasping
for breath, the black hood fell forward over her head.
So out went the blessed light and back came the dark-
ness, with all its evil Things, with a screech and a
howl. They came crowding round her, mocking and
snatching and beating ; shrieking with rage and spite,
and swearing and snarling, for they knew her for their
old enemy, that drove them back into the corners, and
kept them from working their wicked wills.
" Drat thee ! " yelled the witch-bodies, " thou'st spoiled
our spells this year agone ! "
" And us thou sent'st to brood in the corners ! "
howled the Bogles.
And all the Things joined in with a great " Ho, ho ! "
till the very tussocks shook and the water gurgled. And
they began again.
" We'll poison her — poison her ! " shrieked the witches.
And " Ho, ho ! " howled the Things again.
" We'll smother her — smother her ! " whispered the
crawling Horrors, and twined themselves round her knees.
io6 English Fairy Tales
And " Ho, ho ! " mocked the rest of them.
And again they all shouted with spite and ill-will.
And the poor Moon crouched down, and wished she was
dead and done with.
And they fought and squabbled what they should do
with her, till a pale grey light began to come in the sky ;
and it drew nigh the dawning. And when they saw that,
they were feared lest they shouldn't have time to work
their will ; and they caught hold of her, with horrid bony
fingers, and laid her deep in the water at the foot of the
snag. And the Bogles fetched a strange big stone and
rolled it on top of her, to keep her from rising. And
they told two of the will-o'-the-wykes to take turns in
watching on the black snag, to see that she lay safe and
still, and couldn't get out to spoil their sport.
And there lay the poor Moon, dead and buried in the
bog, till some one would set her loose ; and who'd know
where to look for her.
Well, the days passed, and 'twas the time for the new
moon's coming, and the folk put pennies in their pockets
and straws in their caps so as to be ready for her, and
looked about, for the Moon was a good friend to the
marsh folk, and they were main glad when the dark time
was gone, and the paths were safe again, and the Evil
Things were driven back by the blessed Light into the
darkness and the water-holes.
But days and days passed, and the new moon never
came, and the nights were aye dark, and the Evil Things
were worse than ever. And still the days went on, and
the new moon never came, Naturally the poor folk
were strangely feared and mazed, and a lot of them went
The Buried Moon 107
to the Wise Woman who dwelt in the old mill, and asked
if so be she could find out where the Moon was gone.
" Well," said she, after looking in the brewpot, and in
the mirror, and in the Book, " it be main queer, but I
can't rightly tell ye what's happed to her. If ye hear of
aught, come and tell me."
So they went their ways ; and as days went by, and
never a moon come, naturally they talked — my word ! I
reckon they did talk ! their tongues wagged at home,
and at the inn, and in the garth. But so came one day,
as they sat on the great settle in the Inn, a man from the
far end of the bog lands was smoking and listening, when
all at once he sat up and slapped his knee. " My
faicks ! " says he, " I'd clean forgot, but I reckon I kens
where the Moon be ! " and he told them of how he was
lost in the bogs, and how, when he was nigh dead with
fright, the light shone out, and he found the path and
got home safe.
So off they all went to the Wise Woman, and told her
about it, and she looked long in the pot and the Book
again, and then she nodded her head.
" It's dark still, childer, dark ! " says she, " and I can't
rightly see, but do as I tell ye, and ye'll find out for
yourselves. Go all of ye, just afore the night gathers, put
a stone in your mouth, and take a hazel-twig in your
hands, and say never a word till you're safe home again.
Then walk on and fear not, far into the midst of the
marsh, till ye find a coffin, a candle, and a cross. Then
ye'll not be far from your Moon ; look, and m'appen ye'll
find her."
So came the next night in the darklings, out they went
io8 English Fairy Tales
all together, every man with a stone in his mouth, and a
hazel-twig in his hand, and feeling, thou may'st reckon,
main feared and creepy. And they stumbled and
stottered along the paths into the midst of the bogs ;
they saw nought, though they heard sighings and flutter-
ings in their ears, and felt cold wet fingers touching
them ; but all at once, looking around for the coffin,
the candle, and the cross, while they came nigh to the
pool beside the great snag, where the Moon lay buried.
And all at once they stopped, quaking and mazed and
skeery, for there was the great stone, half in, half out of
the water, for all the world like a strange big coffin ; and
at the head was the black snag, stretching out its two arms
in a dark gruesome cross, and on it a tiddy light flickered,
like a dying candle. And they all knelt down in the mud,
and said, "Our Lord," first forward, because of the cross, and
then backward, to keep off the Bogles ; but without speak-
ing out, for they knew that the Evil Things would catch
them, if they didn't do as the Wise Woman told them.
Then they went nigher, and they took hold of the big
stone, and shoved it up, and afterwards they said that for
one tiddy minute they saw a strange and beautiful face
looking up at them glad-like out of the black water ; but
the light came so quick and so white and shining, that
they stept back mazed with it, and the very next minute,
when they could see again, there was the full Moon in
the sky, bright and beautiful and kind as ever, shining
and smiling down at them, and making the bogs and the
paths as clear as day, and stealing into the very corners,
as though she'd have driven the darkness and the Bogles
clean away if she could.
A Son of Adam
A MAN was one day working. It was very hot,
and he was digging. By-and-by he stopped to
rest and wipe his face ; and he was very angry
to think he had to work so hard only because of Adam's
sin. So he complained bitterly, and said some very
hard words about Adam.
It happened that his master heard him, and he asked,
" Why do you blame Adam ? You'd ha' done just like
Adam, if you'd a-been in his place."
" No, I shouldn't," said the man ; " I should ha' know'd
better."
" Well, I'll try you," says his master ; " come to me at
dinner-time."
So come dinner-time, the man came, and his master
took him into a room where the table was a-set with
good things of all sorts. And he said : " Now, you can
eat as much as ever you like from any of the dishes on the
table ; but don't touch the covered dish in the middle till
I come back." And with that the master went out of
the room and left the man there all by himself.
iio English Fairy Tales
So the man sat down and helped himself, and ate
some o' this dish and some o' that, and enjoyed himself
finely. But after awhile, as his master didn't come back,
he began to look at the covered dish, and to wonder
whatever was in it. And he wondered more and more,
and he says to himself, " It must be something very nice.
Why shouldn't I just look at it ? I won't touch it.
There can't be any harm in just peeping." So at last he
could hold back no longer, and he lifted up the cover a
tiny bit ; but he couldn't see anything. Then he lifted
it up a bit more, and out popped a mouse. The man
tried to catch it ; but it ran away and jumped off the
table and he ran after it. It ran first into one corner,
and then, just as he thought he'd got it, into another, and
under the table, and all about the room. And the man
made such a clatter, jumping and banging and running
round after the mouse, a-trying to catch it, that at last
his master came in.
" Ah ! " he said ; " never you blame Adam again, my
man ! "
The Children in the Wood
N
OW ponder well, you parents dear.
These words which I shall write ;
A doleful story you shall hear,
In time brought forth to light.
A gentleman of good account,
In Norfolk dwelt of late,
Who did in honour far surmount
Most men of his estate.
Sore sick he was and like to die,
No help his life could save ;
His wife by him as sick did lie,
And both possest one grave.
No love between these two was lost,
Each was to other kind ;
In love they lived, in love they died,
And left two babes behind.
The one a fine and pretty boy
Not passing three years old,
The other a girl more young than he,
And framed in beauty's mould.
H2 English Fairy Tales
The father left his little son,
As plainly did appear,
When he to perfect age should come,
Three hundred pounds a year ;
And to his little daughter Jane
Five hundred pounds in gold,
To be paid down on marriage-day,
Which might not be controlled.
But if the children chanced to die
Ere they to age should come,
Their uncle should possess their wealth ;
For so the will did run.
" Now, brother," said the dying man,
" Look to my children dear ;
Be good unto my boy and girl,
No friends else have they here ;
To God and you I recommend
My children dear this day ;
But little while be sure we have
Within this world to stay.
" You must be father and mother both,
And uncle, all in one ;
God knows what will become of them
When 1 am dead and gone."
With that bespake their mother dear :
" O brother kind," quoth she,
" You are the man must bring our babes
To wealth or misery.
The Children in the Wood
" And if you keep them carefully,
Then God will you reward ;
But if you otherwise should deal,
God will your deeds regard."
With lips as cold as any stone,
They kissed their children small :
" God bless you both, my children dear ! "
With that the tears did fall.
These speeches then their brother spake
To this sick couple there :
" The keeping of your little ones,
Sweet sister, do not fear ;
God never prosper me nor mine,
Nor aught else that I have,
If I do wrong your children dear
When you are laid in grave ! "
The parents being dead and gone,
The children home he takes,
And brings them straight unto his house
Where much of them he makes.
He had not kept these pretty babes
A twelvemonth and a day,
But, for their wealth, he did devise
To make them both away.
He bargained with two ruffians strong,
Which were of furious mood,
That they should take these children young,
And slay them in a wood.
H
ii4 English Fairy Tales
He told his wife an artful tale
He would the children send
To be brought up in London town
With one that was his friend.
Away then went those pretty babes,
Rejoicing at that tide,
Rejoicing with a merry mind
They should on cock-horse ride.
The Children in the Wood 115
They prate and prattle pleasantly,
As they ride on the way,
To those that should their butchers be
And work their lives' decay :
So that the pretty speech they had
Made Murder's heart relent ;
And they that undertook the deed
Full sore now did repent.
Yet one of them, more hard of heart,
Did vow to do his charge,
Because the wretch that hired him
Had paid him very large.
The other won't agree thereto,
So there they fall to strife ;
With one another they did fight
About the children's life ;
And he that was of mildest mood
Did slay the other there,
Within an unfrequented wood ;
The babes did quake for fear !
He took the children by the hand,
Tears standing in their eye,
And bade them straightway follow him,
And look they did not cry ;
And two long miles he led them on,
While they for food complain :
" Stay here," quoth he, " I'll bring you bread,
When I come back again."
n6 English Fairy Tales
These pretty babes, with hand in hand,
Went wandering up and down ;
But never more could see the man
Approaching from the town.
Their pretty lips with blackberries
Were all besmeared and dyed ;
And when they saw the darksome night,
They sat them down and cried.
Thus wandered these poor innocents,
Till death did end their grief ;
In one another's arms they died,
As wanting due relief :
No burial this pretty pair
From any man receives,
Till Robin Redbreast piously
Did cover them with leaves.
And now the heavy wrath of God
Upon their uncle fell ;
Yea, fearful fiends did haunt his house,
His conscience felt an hell :
His barns were fired, his goods consumed,
His lands were barren made,
His cattle died within the field,
And nothing with him stayed.
And in a voyage to Portugal
Two of his sons did die ;
And to conclude, himself was brought
To want and misery :
The Children in the Wood 117
He pawned and mortgaged all his land
Ere seven years came about.
And now at last this wicked act
Did by this means come out,
The fellow that did take in hand
These children for to kill,
Was for a robbery judged to die,
Such was God's blessed will :
Who did confess the very truth,
As here hath been displayed :
The uncle having died in jail.
Where he for debt was laid.
You that executors be made,
And overseers eke,
Of children that be fatherless,
And infants mild and meek,
Take you example by this thing,
And yield to each his right,
Lest God with suchlike misery
Your wicked minds requite.
The Hobyahs
ONCE there was an old man and woman and a
little girl, and they all lived in a house made of
hempstalks. Now the old man had a little dog
named Turpie ; and one night the Hobyahs came and said,
" Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Tear down the hemp-
stalks, eat up the old man and woman, and carry off the
little girl ! " But little dog Turpie barked so, that the
Hobyahs ran off ; and the old man said, " Little dog
The Hobyahs
119
Turpie barks so that I cannot sleep nor slumber, and if I
live till morning I will cut off his tail." So in the
morning the old man cut off little dog Turpie's tail.
The next night the Hobyahs came again, and said,
" Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Tear down the hemp-
stalks, eat up the old man and woman, and carry off
the little girl ! " But little dog Turpie barked so
that the Hobyahs ran off ;
and the old man said,
" Little dog Turpie barks
so that I cannot sleep nor
slumber, and if I live till
morning I will cut off one
of his legs." So in the
morning the old man cut off one of little dog Turpie's
legs.
The next night the Hobyahs came again, and said,
120 English Fairy Tales
" Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Tear down the hemp-
stalks, eat up the old man and woman, and carry off the
little girl ! " But little dog Turpie barked so, that
the Hobyahs ran off; and
the old man said, " Little
dog Turpie barks so that
I cannot sleep nor slumber,
and if I live till morning I
will cut off another of his
legs." So in the morning
the old man cut off another of little dog Turpie's legs.
The next night the Hobyahs came again, and said,
" Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Tear down the hemp-
stalks, eat up the old man and woman, and carry off the little
girl." But little dog Turpie
barked so that the Hobyahs
ran off; and the old man
said, " Little dog Turpie
barks so that I cannot sleep
nor slumber, and if I live
till morning I will cut off
another of his legs." So in the morning the old man cut
off another of little dog Turpie's legs.
The Hobyahs
121
The next night the Hobyahs came again, and said,
"" Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Tear down the hemp-
stalks, eat up the old man and woman, and carry off the
little girl ! But little dog Turpie barked so that the
Hobyahs ran off; and the
old man said, " Little dog
Turpie barks so that I
cannot sleep nor slumber,
and if I live till morning
I will cut off another of
his legs." So in the morn-
ing the old man cut off another of little dog Turpie's legs.
The next night the Hobyahs came again, and said,
" Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Tear down the hemp
stalks, eat up the old man and woman, and carry off the
little girl ! ' But little dog Turpie barked so that the
122 English Fairy Tales
Hobyahs ran off ; and the old man said, " Little dog
Turpie barks so that I
cannot sleep nor slumber,
and if I live till morning
I will cut off little dog
Turpie's head. So in the
morning the old man cut
off littledog Turpie's head.
The next night the Hobyahs came again, and said,.
" Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Tear down the hemp-
stalks, eat up the old man and woman, and carry off the
little girl ! " And when the Hobyahs found that little
off they tore
ate UP t^ie °^
carried the
a bag.
dog Turpie's head was
down the hempstalks,
man and woman, and
little girl off in
The Hobyahs
123
And when the Hobyahs came to their home they hung
up the bag with the little girl in it, and every Hobyah
knocked on the top of the bag and said, " Look me ! look
me ! " And then they went to sleep until the next night,
for the Hobyahs slept in the daytime.
The little girl cried a great deal, and a man with a big
dog came that way and heard her crying. When he
asked her how she came there and she told him, he put
the dog in the bag and took the little girl to his home.
The next night the Hobyahs took down the bag and
knocked on the top of it, and said, " Look me ! look
me ! " and when they opened the bag—
i 24 English Fairy Tales
thebigdog jumped
out and ate them
all up; so there are
no Hobyahs now.
A Pottle o' Brains
ONCE in these parts, and not so long gone
neither, there was a fool that wanted to buy a
pottle o' brains, for he was ever getting into
scrapes through his foolishness, and being laughed at by
every one. Folk told him that he could get everything
he liked from the wise woman that lived on the top o'
the hill, and dealt in potions and herbs and spells and
things, and could tell thee all as'd
come to thee or thy folk. So he told
his mother, and asked her if he could
seek the wise woman and buy a pottle
o' brains.
"That ye should," says she: "thou'st
sore need o' them, my son ; and if I should die, who'd
take care o' a poor fool such's thou, no more fit to look
after thyself than an unborn baby ? but mind thy manners,
and speak her pretty, my lad ; for they wise folk are gey
and light mispleased."
So off he went after his tea, and there she was, sitting
by the fire, and stirring a big pot.
126 English Fairy Tales
" Good e'en, missis," says he, " it's a fine night."
" Aye," says she, and went on stirring.
" It'll maybe rain," says he, and fidgeted from one foot
to t'other.
" Maybe," says she.
"And m'appen it won't," says he, and looked out o'
the window.
" M'appen," says she.
And he scratched his head and twisted his hat.
" Well," says he, " I can't mind nothing else about
the weather, but let me see ; the crops are getting on fine."
" Fine," says she.
"And — and — the beasts is fattening," says he.
" They are," says she.
"And — and— -"says he, and comes to a stop — " I reckon
we'll tackle business now, having done the polite like.
Have you any brains for to sell ? "
" That depends," says she, " if thou wants king's brains,
or soldier's brains, or schoolmaster's brains, I dinna keep
em."
" Hout no," says he, " jist ordinary brains — fit for any
fool — same as every one has about here ; something clean
common-like."
" Aye so," says the wise woman, " I might manage that,
if so be thou'lt help thyself."
" How's that for, missis ? " says he.
" Jest so," says she, looking in the pot ; " bring me the
heart of the thing thou likest best of all, and I'll tell thee
where to get thy pottle o' brains."
" But," says he, scratching his head, " how can I do
that ? "
A Pottle o' Brains 127
" That's no for me to say," says she, " find out for thy-
self, my lad ! if thou doesn't want to be a fool all thy days.
But thou'll have to read me a riddle so as I can see thou'st
brought the right thing, and if thy brains is about thee.
And I've something else to see to," says she, " so gode'en
to thee," and she carried the pot away with her into the
back place.
So off went the fool to his mother, and told her what
the wise woman said.
" And I reckon Til have to kill that pig, " says he, " for
I like fat bacon better than anything."
" Then do it, my lad," said his mother, " for certain 'twill
be a strange and good thing fur thee, if thou canst buy a
pottle o' brains, and be able to look after thy own self."
So he killed his pig, and next day off he went to the
wise woman's cottage, and there she sat, reading in a
great book.
" Gode'en, missis," says he, " I've brought thee the heart
o' the thing I like best of all ; and I put it hapt in paper
on the table."
" Aye so ? " says she, and looked at him through her
spectacles. "Tell me this then, what runs without feet?"
He scratched his head, and thought, and thought, but he
couldn't tell.
" Go thy ways," says she, " thou'st not fetched me the
right thing yet. I've no brains for thee to-day." And
she clapt the book together, and turned her back.
So off the fool went to tell his mother.
But as he got nigh the house, out came folk running to
tell him that his mother was dying.
And when he got in, his mother only looked at him
128 English Fairy Tales
and smiled as if to say she could leave him with a quiet
mind since he had got brains enough now to look after him-
self—and then she died.
So down he sat and the more he thought about it the
badder he felt. He minded how she'd nursed him when
he was a tiddy brat, and helped him with his lessons, and
cooked his dinners, and mended his clouts, and bore with
his foolishness ; and he felt sorrier and sorrier, while he
began to sob and greet.
" Oh, mother, mother ! " says he, " who'll take care of
me now ! Thou shouldn't have left me alone, for I
liked thee better than everything ! "
And as he said that, he thought of the words of the wise
woman. " Hi, yi ! " says he, " must I take mother's heart
to her ? "
" No ! I can't do that," says he. " What'll I do ! what'll
I do to get that pottle of brains, now I'm alone in the
world ? " So he thought and thought and thought, and
next day he went and borrowed a sack, and bundled his
mother in, and carried it on his shoulder up to the wise
woman's cottage.
" Gode'en, missis," says he, " I reckon I've fetched thee
the right thing this time, surely," and he plumped the sack
down kerflap ! in the doorsill.
" Maybe," says the wise woman, " but read me this, now,
what's yellow and shining but isn't gold ? "
And he scratched his head, and thought and thought
but he couldn't tell.
" Thou'st not hit the right thing, my lad," says she. " I
doubt thou'rt a bigger fool than I thought ! " and shut the
door in his face.
A Pottle o' Brains 129
" See there ! " says he, and set down by the road side
and greets.
" I've lost the only two things as I cared for, and what
else can I find to buy a pottle of brains with ! " and he fair
howled, till the tears ran down into his mouth. And up
came a lass that lived near at hand, and looked at him.
" What's up with thee, fool ? " says she.
" Oo, I've killed my pig, and lost my mother and I'm
nobbut a fool myself," says he, sobbing.
" That's bad," says she ; " and haven't thee anybody to
look after thee ? "
" No," says he, " and I canna buy my pottle of brains,
for there's nothing I like best left ! "
" What art talking about ! " says she.
And down she sets by him, and he told her all about the
wise woman and the pig, and his mother and the riddles,
and that he was alone in the world.
" Well," says she, " I wouldn't mind looking after thee
myself."
" Could thee do it ? " says he.
" Ou, ay ! " says she ; " folk says as fools make good
husbands, and I reckon I'll have thee, if thou'rt willing."
" Can'st cook ? " says he.
" Ay, I can," says she.
" And scrub ? " says he.
" Surely," says she.
" And mend my clouts ? " says he.
" I can that," says she.
" I reckon thou'lt do then as well as anybody," says he ;
" but what'll I do about this wise woman ? t;
" Oh, wait a bit," says she, " something may turn up,
130 English Fairy Tales
and it'll not matter if thou'rt a fool, so long's thou'st got
me to look after thee."
" That's true," says he, and off they went and got
married. And she kept his house so clean and neat, and
cooked his dinner so fine, that one night he says to her :
" Lass, I'm thinking I like thee best of everything after all."
" That's good hearing," says she, " and what then ? "
" Have I got to kill thee, dost think, and take thy heart
up to the wise woman for that pottle o' brains ? "
" Law, no ! " says she, looking skeered, " I winna have
that. But see here ; thou didn't cut out thy mother's
heart, did thou ? "
" No ; but if I had, maybe I'd have got my pottle o'
brains," says he.
" Not a bit of it," says she ; " just thou take me as I
be, heart and all, and I'll wager I'll help thee read the
riddles."
" Can thee so? " says he, doubtful like ; " I reckon they're
too hard for women folk."
41 Well," says she, " let's see now. Tell me the first."
" What runs without feet ? " says he.
" Why, water ! " says she.
" It do," says he, and scratched his head.
"And what's yellow and shining but isn't gold ?"
" Why, the sun ! " says she.
41 Faith, it be ! " says he. " Come, we'll go up to the
wise woman at once," and off they went. And as they
came up the pad, she was sitting at the door, twining
straws.
" Gode'en, missis," says he.
" Gode'en, fool," says she.
A Pottle o' Brains
" I reckon I've fetched thee the right thing at last,"
says he.
The wise woman looked at them both, and wiped her
spectacles.
" Canst tell me what
that is as has first no legs,
and then two legs, and
ends with four legs ? " f \\ \\^ J
And the fool scratch-
ed his head, and thought
and thought, but he
couldn't tell.
And the lass whis-
pered in his ear :
" It's a tadpole."
" M'appen," says he
then, " it may be a tad-
pole, missis."
The wise woman nodded her head.
" That's right," says she, " and thou'st got thy pottle o'
brains already."
" Where be they ? " says he, looking about and feeling in
his pockets.
" In thy wife's head," says she. " The only cure for a
fool is a good wife to look after him, and that thou'st got,
so gode'en to thee ! " And with that she nodded to them,
o
and up and into the house.
So they went home together, and he never wanted to buy
a pottle o' brains again, for his wife had enough for
both.
The King of England and his
Three Sons
ONCE upon a time there was an old king who had
three sons ; and the old king fell very sick one
time and there was nothing at all could make
him well but some golden apples from a far country. So
the three brothers went on horseback to look for some of
these apples. They set off together, and when they came
to cross-roads they halted and refreshed themselves a bit ;
and then they agreed to meet on a certain time, and not
one was to go home before the other. So Valentine took
the right, and Oliver went straight on, and poor Jack took
the left.
To make my long story short I shall follow poor
Jack, and let the other two take their chance, for I don't
think there was much good in them. Off poor Jack
rides over hills, dales, valleys, and mountains, through
woolly woods and sheepwalks, where the old chap never
sounded his hollow bugle-horn, farther than I can tell
you to-night or ever intend to tell you.
The King of England 133
At last he came to an old house, near a great forest,
and there was an old man sitting out by the door, and
his look was enough to frighten you or any one else ; and
the old man said to him :
" Good morning, my king's son."
"Good morning to you, old gentleman," was the young
prince's answer ; frightened out of his wits though he was,
he didn't like to give in.
The old gentleman told him to dismount and to go in
to have some refreshment, and to put his horse in the
stable, such as it was. Jack soon felt much better after
having something to eat, and began to ask the old gentle-
man how he knew he was a king's son.
" Oh dear ! " said the old man, " I knew that you were
a king's son, and 1 know what is your business better
than what you do yourself. So you will have to stay
here to-night ; and when you are in bed you mustn't be
frightened whatever you may hear. There will come all
manner of frogs and snakes, and some will try to get into
your eyes and your mouth, but mind, don't stir the least
bit or you will turn into one of those things yourself."
Poor Jack didn't know what to make of this, but, how-
ever, he ventured to go to bed. Just as he thought to
have a bit of sleep, round and over and under him they
came, but he never stirred an inch all night.
" Well, my young son, how are you this morning ? "
" Oh, I am very well, thank you, but I didn't have much
rest."
" Well, never mind that ; you have got on very well so
far, but you have a great deal to go through before you
can have the golden apples to go to your father. You'd
134 English Fairy Tales
better come and have some breakfast before you start on
your way to my other brother's house. You will have to
leave your own horse here with me until you come back
again, and tell me everything about how you get on."
After that out came a fresh horse for the young prince,
and the old man gave him a ball of yarn, and he flung it
between the horse's two ears.
Off he went as fast as the wind, which the wind behind
could not catch the wind before, until he came to the
second oldest brother's house. When he rode up to the
door he had the same salute as from the first old man,
but this one was even uglier than the first one. He had
long grey hair, and his teeth were curling out of his
mouth, and his finger- and toe-nails had not been cut for
many thousand years. He put the horse into a much
better stable, and called Jack in, and gave him plenty to
eat and drink, and they had a bit of a chat before they
went to bed.
" Well, my young son," said the old man, " I suppose
you are one of the king's children come to look for the
golden apples to bring him back to health."
" Yes, I am the youngest of the three brothers, and I
should like to get them to go back with."
' Well, don't mind, my young son. Before you go to
bed to-night I will send to my eldest brother, and will
tell him what you want, and he won't have much trouble
in sending you on to the place where you must get the
apples. But mind not to stir to-night no matter how
you get bitten and stung, or else you will work great
mischief to yourself."
The young man went to bed and bore all, as he did
The King of England 135
the first night, and got up the next morning well and
hearty. After a good breakfast out comes a fresh horse,
and a ball of yarn to throw between his ears. The old
man told him to jump up quick, and said that he had
made it all right with his eldest brother, not to delay for
anything whatever, " For," said he, " you have a good deal
to go through in a very short and quick time."
He flung the ball, and off he goes as quick as lightning,
and comes to the eldest brother's house. The old man
receives him very kindly and told him he long wished to
see him, and that he would go through his work like a
man and come back safe and sound. " To-night," said
he, " I will give you rest ; there shall nothing come to
disturb you, so that you may not feel sleepy for
to-morrow. And you must mind to get up middling
early, for you've got to go and come all in the same
day ; there will be no place for you to rest within
thousands of miles of that place ; and if there was, you
would stand in great danger never to come from there in
your own form. Now, my young prince, mind what I
tell you. To-morrow, when you come in sight of a very
large castle, which will be surrounded with black water,
the first thing you will do you will tie your horse to a
tree, and you will see three beautiful swans in sight, and
you will say, ' Swan, swan, carry me over in the name of
the Griffin of the Greenwood,' and the swans will swim
you over to the earth. There will be three great
entrances, the first guarded by four great giants and
drawn swords in their hands, the second by lions, the
other by fiery serpents and dragons. You will have to
be there exactly at one o'clock ; and mind and leave
136 English Fairy Tales
there precisely at two, and not a moment later. When the
swans carry you over to the castle, you will pass all these
things, all fast asleep, but you must not notice any of them.
" When you go in, you will turn up to the right; you will
see some grand rooms, then you will go downstairs and
through the cooking kitchen, and through a door on your
left you go into a garden, where you will find the apples
you want for your father to get well. After you fill your
wallet, you make all speed you possibly can, and call out
for the swans to carry you over the same as before. After
you get on your horse, should you hear anything shouting
or making any noise after you, be sure not to look back,
as they will follow you for thousands of miles ; but when
the time is up and you get near my place, it will be all over.
Well now, my young man, I have told you all you have to
do to-morrow; and mind, whatever you do, don't look
about you when you see all those frightful things asleep.
Keep a good heart, and make haste from there, and come
back to me with all the speed you can. I should like to
know how my two brothers were when you left them, and
what they said to you about me."
" Well, to tell the truth, before I left London my father
was sick, and said I was to come here to look for the
golden apples, for they were the only things that would do
him good ; and when I came to your youngest brother, he
told me many things I had to do before I came here. And
I thought once that your youngest brother put me in the
wrong bed, when he put all those snakes to bite me all
night long, until your second brother told me ' So it was
to be,' and said, ' It is the same here,' but said you had
none in your beds."
!l
n the. JWttDH
s|f in oOhe (greenwood,-
The King of England 137
" Well, let's go to bed. You need not fear. There are
no snakes here."
The young man went to bed, and had a good night's
rest, and got up the next morning as fresh as newly
caught trout. Breakfast being over, out comes the other
horse, and, while saddling and fettling, the old man began
to laugh, and told the young gentleman that if he saw a
pretty young lady, not to stay with her too long, because
she might waken, and then he would have to stay with
her or to be turned into one of those unearthly monsters,
like those he would have to pass by going into the castle.
<: Ha ! ha ! ha ! you make me laugh so that I can
scarcely buckle the saddle-straps. I think I shall make it
all right, my uncle, if I see a young lady there, you may
depend."
" Well, my boy, I shall see how you will get on."
So he mounts his Arab steed, and off he goes like a
shot out of a gun. At last he comes in sight of the
castle. He ties his horse safe to a tree, and pulls out his
watch. It was then a quarter to one, when he called out,
" Swan, swan, carry me over, for the name of the old Griffin
of the Greenwood." No sooner said than done. A swan
under each side, and one in front, took him over in a
crack. He got on his legs, and walked quietly by all
those giants, lions, fiery serpents, and all manner of other
frightful things too numerous to mention, while they were
fast asleep, and that only for the space of one hour, when
into the castle he goes neck or nothing. Turning to the
right, upstairs he runs, and enters into a very grand bed-
room, and sees a beautiful Princess lying full stretch on a
gold bedstead, fast asleep. He gazed on her beautiful
138 English Fairy Tales
form with admiration, and he takes her garter off, and
buckles it on his own leg, and he buckles his on hers ; he
also takes her gold watch and pocket-handkerchief, and
exchanges his for hers ; after that he ventures to give her
a kiss, when she very nearly opened her eyes. Seeing the
time short, off he runs downstairs, and passing through the
kitchen to go into the garden for the apples, he could see
the cook all-fours on her back on the middle of the floor,
with the knife in one hand and the fork in the other. He
found the apples, and rilled the wallet ; and on passing
through the kitchen the cook near wakened, but he was
obliged to make all the speed he possibly could, as the
time was nearly up. He called out for the swans, and
they managed to take him over ; but they found that he
was a little heavier than before. No sooner than he had
mounted his horse he could hear a tremendous noise, the
enchantment was broke, and they tried to follow him, but
all to no purpose. He was not long before he came to the
oldest brother's house ; and glad enough he was to see it,
for the sight and the noise of all those things that were
after him nearly frightened him to death.
' Welcome, my boy ; I am proud to see you. Dismount
and put the horse in the stable, and come in and have some
refreshments ; I know you are hungry after all you have
gone through in that castle. And tell me all you did, and
all you saw there. Other kings' sons went by here to go
to that castle, but they never came back alive, and you are
the only one that ever broke the spell. And now you
must come with me, with a sword in your hand, and must
cut my head off, and must throw it in that well."
The young Prince dismounts, and puts his horse in
The King of England 139
the stable, and they go in to have some refreshments,
for I can assure you he wanted some ; and after telling
everything that passed, which the old gentleman was
very pleased to hear, they both went for a walk to-
gether, the young Prince looking around and seeing the
place looking dreadful, as did the old man. He could
scarcely walk from his toe-nails curling up like ram's horns
that had not been cut for many hundred years, and big
long hair. They come to a well, and the old man gives
the Prince a sword, and tells him to cut his head off, and
throw it in that well. The young man has to do it against
his wish, but has to do it.
No sooner has he flung the head in the well, than up
springs one of the finest young gentlemen you would wish
to see ; and instead of the old house and the frightful-
looking place, it was changed into a beautiful hall and
grounds. And they went back and enjoyed themselves
well, and had a good laugh about the castle.
The young Prince leaves this young gentleman in all
his glory, and he tells the young Prince before leaving
that he will see him again before long. They have a
jolly shake-hands, and off he goes to the next oldest
brother ; and, to make my long story short, he has to
serve the other two brothers the same as the first.
Now the youngest brother began to ask him how
things went on. "Did you see my two brothers?"
" Yes."
" How did they look ? "
"Oh! they looked very well. I liked them much.
They told me many things what to do."
" Well, did you go to the castle ? "
140 English Fairy Tales
" Yes, my uncle.''
" And will you tell me what you see in there ? Did
you see the young lady ? "
" Yes, I saw her, and plenty of other frightful things."
" Did you hear any snake biting you in my oldest
brother's bed ? "
" No, there were none there ; I slept well."
" You won't have to sleep in the same bed to-night.
You will have to cut my head off in the morning."
The young Prince had a good night's rest, and changed
all the appearance of the place by cutting his friend's head
off before he started in the morning. A jolly shake-hands,
and the uncle tells him it's very probable he shall see him
again soon when he is not aware of it. This one's mansion
was very pretty, and the country around it beautiful, after
his head was cut off. Off Jack goes, over hills, dales,
valleys, and mountains, and very near losing his apples
again.
At last he arrives at the cross-roads, where he has to
meet his brothers on the very day appointed. Coming up
to the place, he sees no tracks of horses, and, being very
tired, he lays himself down to sleep, by tying the horse to
his leg, and putting the apples under his head. Presently
up come the other brothers the same time to the minute,
and found him fast asleep; and they would not waken him,
but said one to another, " Let us see what sort of apples he
has got under his head." So they took and tasted them,
and found they were different to theirs. They took and
changed his apples for theirs, and off to London as fast as
they could, and left the poor fellow sleeping.
After a while he awoke, and, seeing the tracks of other
The King of England 141
horses, he mounted and off with him, not thinking any-
thing about the apples being changed. tie had still a
long way to go, and by the time he got near London he
could hear all the bells in the town ringing, but did not
know what was the matter until he rode up to the palace,
when he came to know that his father was recovered by
his brother's apples. When he got there, his two brothers
were off to some sports for a while ; and the King was glad
to see his youngest son, and very anxious to taste his
apples. But when he found out that they were not good,
and thought that they were more for poisoning him, he
sent immediately for the headsman to behead his youngest
son, who was taken away there and then in a carriage.
But instead of the headsman taking his head off, he took
him to a forest not far from the town, because he had pity
on him, and there left him to take his chance, when pre-
sently up comes a big hairy bear, limping upon three legs.
The Prince, poor fellow, climbed up a tree, frightened of
him, but the bear told him to come down, that it was no
use of him to stop there. With hard persuasion poor Jack
comes down, and the bear speaks to him and bids him
" Come here to me ; I will not do you any harm. It's better
for you to come with me and have some refreshments ; I
know that you are hungry all this time."
The poor young Prince says, " No, I am not hungry ;
but I was very frightened when I saw you coming to me
first, as I had no place to run away from you."
The bear said, " I was also afraid of you when I saw that
gentleman setting you down from the carriage. I thought
you would have guns with you, and that you \vould not
mind killing me if you saw me ; but when I saw the
142 English Fairy Tales
gentleman going away with the carnage, and leaving you
behind by yourself, I made bold to come to you, to see
who you were, and now I know who you are very well.
.Are you not the King's youngest son? I have seen you
and your brothers and lots of other gentlemen in this
wood many times. Now before we go from here, I must
tell you that I am in disguise ; and I shall take you where
we are stopping."
The young Prince tells him everything from first to
last, how he started in search of the apples, and about the
three old men, and about the castle, and how he v/as served
at last by his father after he came home ; and instead of
the headsman taking his head off, he was kind enough to
leave him his life, " and here I am now, under your pro-
tection."
The bear tells him, " Come on, my brother ; there
shall no harm come to you as long as you are with
me."
So he takes him up to the tents ; and when they see
'em coming, the girls begin to laugh, and say, " Here is our
Jubal coming with a young gentleman." When he advanced
nearer the tents, they all knew that he was the young
Prince that had passed by that way many times before ;
and when Jubal went to change himself, he called most of
them together into one tent, and told them all about him,
and to be kind to him. And so they were, for there was
nothing that he desired but what he had, the same as if he
was in the palace with his father and mother. Jubal, after
he pulled off his hairy coat, was one of the finest young
men amongst them, and he was the young Prince's closest
companion. The young Prince was always very sociable
The King of England 143
and merry, only when he thought of the gold watch he-
had from the young Princess in the castle, and which he
had lost he knew not where.
He passed off many happy days in the forest ; but
one day he and poor Jubal were strolling through the
trees, when they came to the very spot where they first
met, and, accidentally looking up, he could see his watch
hanging in the tree which he had to climb when he first
saw poor Jubal coming to him in the form of a bear ; and
he cries out, " Jubal, Jubal, I can see my watch up in that
tree."
"Well, I am sure, how lucky! " exclaimed poor Jubal ;
"shall I go and get it down ?"
" No, I'd rather go myself," said the young Prince.
Now whilst all this was going on, the young Princess
in that castle, seeing that one of the King of England's
sons had been there by the changing of the watch and
other things, got herself ready with a large army, and
sailed off for England. She left her army a little out of
the town, and she went with her guards straight up to
the palace to see the King, and also demanded to see
his sons. They had a long conversation together about
different things. At last she demands one of the sons to
come before her ; and the oldest comes, when she asks him,
" Have you ever been at the Castle of Melvales ? " and he
answers, " Yes." She throws down a pocket-handkerchief
and bids him to walk over it without stumbling. He goes
to walk over it, and no sooner did he put his foot on it,
than he fell down and broke his leg. He was taken off
immediately and made a prisoner of by her own guards.
The other was called upon, and was asked the same ques-
144 English Fairy Tales
tions, and had to go through the same performance, and
he also was made a prisoner of. Now she says, " Have you
not another son ? " when the King began to shiver and
shake and knock his two knees together that he could
scarcely stand upon his legs, and did not know what to say
to her, he was so much frightened. At last a thought
came to him to send for his headsman, and inquire of him
particularly, Did he behead his son, or was he alive ?
" He is saved, O King."
" Then bring him here immediately, or else I shall be
done for."
Two of the fastest horses they had were put in the
carriage, to go and look for the poor Prince ; and when
they got to the very spot where they left him, it was the
time when the Prince was up the tree, getting his watch
down, and poor Jubal standing a distance off. They cried
out to him, Had he seen another young man in this wood ?
Jubal, seeing such a nice carriage, thought something, and
did not like to say No, and said Yes, and pointed up the
tree ; and they told him to come down immediately, as
there was a young lady in search of him with a young
child.
" Ha ! ha ! ha ! Jubal, did you ever hear such a thing
in all your life, my brother ? "
" Do you call him your brother ? "
" Well, he has been better to me than my brothers."
" Well, for his kindness he shall accompany you to the
palace, and see how things turn out."
After they go to the palace, the Prince has a good
wash, and appears before the Princess, when she asks him,
Had he ever been at the Castle of Melvales? With a smile
The King of England 145
upon his face, he gives a graceful bow. And says my Lady,
" Walk over that handkerchief without stumbling." He
walks over it many times, and dances upon it, and nothing
happened to him. She said, with a proud and smiling air,
" That is the young man ; " and out come the objects
exchanged by both of them. Presently she orders a very
large box to be brought in and to be opened, and out
come some of the most costly uniforms that were ever
worn on an emperor's back; and when he dressed himself
up, the King could scarcely look upon him from the
dazzling of the gold and diamonds on his coat. He orders
his two brothers to be in confinement for a period of time ;
and before the Princess asks him to go with her to her own
country, she pays a visit to the bear's camp, and she makes
some very handsome presents for their kindness to the
young Prince. And she gives Jubal an invitation to go
with them, which he accepts ; wishes them a hearty fare-
well for a while, promising to see them all again in some
little time.
They go back to the King and bid farewell, and tell
him not to be so hasty another time to order people to be
beheaded before having a proper cause for it. Off they
go with all their army with them ; but while the soldiers
were striking their tents, the Prince bethought himself of
his Welsh harp, and had it sent for immediately to take
with him in a beautiful wooden case. They called to
see each of those three brothers whom the Prince had to
stay with when he was on his way to the Castle of Mel-
vales ; and I can assure you, when they all got together,
they had a very merry time of it. And there we will
leave them.
* K
King John and the Abbot of
Canterbury
IN the reign of King John there lived an Abbot of
Canterbury who kept up grand state in his Abbey.
A hundred of the Abbot's men dined each day with
him in his refectory, and fifty knights in velvet coats and
gold chains waited upon him daily. Well, King John, as
you know, was a very bad king, and he couldn't brook the
idea of any one in his kingdom, however holy he might
be, being honoured more than he. So he summoned the
Abbot of Canterbury to his presence.
The Abbot came with a goodly retinue, with his fifty
knights-at-arms in velvet cloaks and gold chains. The
King went to meet him, and said to him, " How now,
father Abbot ? I hear it of thee, thou keepest far greater
state than I. This becomes not our royal dignity, and
savours of treason in thee."
" My liege," quoth the Abbot, bending low, " I beg to
say that all I spend has been freely given to the Abbey
out of the piety of the folk. I trust your Grace will not
King John and the Abbot 147
take it ill that I spend for the Abbey's sake what is the
Abbey's."
" Nay, proud prelate," answered the King, " all that is
in this fair realm of England is our own, and thou hast
no right to put me to shame by holding such state.
However, of my clemency I will spare thee thy life
and thy property if you can answer me but three ques-
tions."
" I will do so, my liege/' said the Abbot, " so far as my
poor wit can extend."
"Well, then," said the King, "tell me where is the
centre of all the world round ; then let me know how soon
can I ride the whole world about ; and, lastly, tell me what
I think."
" Your Majesty jesteth,'' stammered the Abbot.
" Thou wilt find it no jest," said the King. " Unless
thou canst answer me these questions three before a week
is out, thy head will leave thy body ; " and he turned away.
Well, the Abbot rode off in fear and trembling, and first
he went to Oxford to see if any learned doctor could tell
him the answer to those questions three ; but none could
help him, and he took his way to Canterbury, sad and
sorrowful, to take leave of his monks. But on his way he
met his shepherd as he was going to the fold.
" Welcome home, Lord Abbot," quoth the shepherd ;
"what news from good King John?"
" Sad news, sad news, my shepherd," said the Abbot,
and told him all that had happened.
" Now, cheer up, Sir Abbot," said the shepherd. " A fool
may perhaps answer what a wise man knows not. I will
go to London in your stead ; grant me only your apparel
148 English Fairy Tales
and your retinue of knights. At the least I can die in
your place."
" Nay, shepherd, not so," said the Abbot ; " I must
meet the danger in my own person. And to that, thou
canst not pass for me."
" But I can and I will, Sir Abbot. In a cowl, who will
know me for what I am ? "
So at last the Abbot consented, and sent him to
London in his most splendid array, and he approached
King John with all his retinue as before, but dressed in
his simple monk's dress and his cowl over his face.
"Now welcome, Sir Abbot," said King John ; "thou art
prepared for thy doom, I see."
" I am ready to answer your Majesty," said he.
" Well, then, question first — where is the centre of the
round earth ? " said the King.
"Here," said the shepherd Abbot, planting hiscrozierin
the ground ; " an' your Majesty believe me not, go measure
it and see."
"By St. Botolph," said the King, " a merry answer and
a shrewd ; so to question the second. How soon may I
ride this round world about ? "
"If your Majesty will graciously rise with the sun, and
ride along with him until the next morning he rise, your
Grace will surely have ridden it round."
' By St. John," laughed King John, " I did not think
it could be done so soon. But let that pass, and tell
me question third and last, and that is — What do I
think ? "
' That is easy, your Grace," said he. " Your Majesty
thinks I am my lord the Abbot of Canterbury ; but as
King John and the Abbot 149
you may see," and here he raised his cowl, " I am but his
poor shepherd, that am come to ask your pardon for him
and for me."
Loud laughed the King. " Well
caught. Thou hast more wit than
thy lord, and thou shalt be Abbot
in his place."
"Nay, that cannot be," quoth
the shepherd ; " I know not to
write nor to read."
" Well, then, four nobles a week
thou shalt have for thy ready wit.
And tell the Abbot from me that
he has my pardon." And with
that King John sent away the shepherd with a right royal
present, besides his pension.
Rushen Coatie
THERE was once a king and a queen, as many a
one has been ; few have we seen, and as few may
we see. But the queen died, leaving only one
bonny girl, and she told her on her death-bed : " My
dear, after I am gone, there will come to you a little red
calf, and whenever you want anything, speak to it, and
it will give it you."
Now, after a while, the king married again an ill-
natured wife, with three ugly daughters of her own. And
they hated the king's daughter because she was so bonny.
So they took all her fine clothes away from her, and gave
her only a coat made of rushes. So they called her Rushen
Coatie, and made her sit in the kitchen nook, amid the
ashes. And when dinner-time came, the nasty step-
mother sent her out a thimbleful of broth, a grain of
barley, a thread of meat, and a crumb of bread. But
Rushen Coatie 151
when she had eaten all this, she was just as hungry as
before, so she said to herself: " Oh ! how I wish I had
something to eat." Just then, who should come in but a
little red calf, and said to her : " Put your finger into my
left ear." She did so, and found some nice bread. Then
the calf told her to put her finger into its right ear, and
she found there some cheese, and made a right good meal
off the bread and cheese. And so it went on from day
to day.
Now the king's wife thought Rushen Coatie would soon
die from the scanty food she got, and she was surprised
to see her as lively and healthy as ever. So she set one
of her ugly daughters on the watch at meal times to find
out how Rushen Coatie got enough to live on. The
daughter soon found out that the red calf gave food to
Rushen Coatie, and told her mother. So her mother went
to the king and told him she was longing to have a
sweetbread from a red calf. Then the king sent for his
butcher, and had the little red calf killed. And when
Rushen Coatie heard of it, she sate down and wept by its
side, but the dead calf said :
" Take me up, bone by bone,
And put me beneath yon grey stone ;
When there is aught you want
Tell it me, and that I'll grant."
So she did so, but could not find the shank-bone of
the calf.
Now the very next Sunday was Yuletide, and all the
folk were going to church in their best clothes, so Rushen
Coatie said : " Oh ! I should like to go to church too,"
152 English Fairy Tales
but the three ugly sisters said : " What would you do at
the church, you nasty thing ? You must bide at home
and make the dinner." And the king's wife said :
" And this is what you must make the soup of,
a thimbleful of water, a grain of barley, and a crumb of
bread."
When they all went to church, Rushen Coatie sat down
and wept, but looking up, who should she see coming in
limping, lamping, with a shank wanting, but the dear red
calf? And the red calf said to her: " Do not sit there
weeping, but go, put on these clothes, and above all, put
on this pair of glass slippers, and go your way to church."
" But what will become of the dinner ? " said Rushen
Coatie.
" Oh, do not fash about that," said the red calf, " all
you have to do is to say to the fire :
" Every peat make t'other burn,
Every spit make t'other turn,
Every pot make t'other play,
Till I come from church this good Yuleday,"
and be off to church with you. But mind you come
home first."
So Rushen Coatie said this, and went off to church, and
she was the grandest and finest lady there. There
happened to be a young prince there, and he fell at once
in love with her. But she came away before service was
over, and was home before the rest, and had off her fine
clothes and on with her rushen coatie, and she found the
calf had covered the table, and the dinner was ready,
and everything was in good order when the rest came
Rushen Coatie 153
home. The three sisters said to Rushen Coatie: "Eh,
lassie, if you had seen the bonny fine lady in church to-
day, that the young prince fell in love with ! " Then she
said : " Oh ! I wish you \vould let me go with you to the
church to-morrow," for they used to go three days together
to church at Yuletide.
But they said : " What should the like of you do at
church, nasty thing ? The kitchen nook is good enough
for you."
So the next day they all went to church, and Rushen
Coatie was left behind, to make dinner out of a thimbleful
of water, a grain of barley, a crumb of bread, and a
thread of meat. But the red calf came to her help again,
gave her finer clothes than before, and she went to church,
where all the world was looking at her, and wondering
where such a grand lady came from, and the prince fell
more in love with her than ever, and tried to find out
where she went to. But she was too quick for him, and
got home long before the rest, and the red calf had
the dinner all ready.
The next day the calf dressed her in even grander
clothes than before, and she went to the church. And
the young prince was there again, and this time he put a
guard at the door to keep her, but she took a hop and a
run and jumped over their heads, and as she did so,
down fell one of her glass slippers. She didn't wait to
pick it up, you may be sure, but off she ran home, as fast
as she could go, on with the rushen coatie, and the calf
had all things ready.
Then the young prince put out a proclamation that
whoever could put on the glass slipper should be his
154 English Fairy Tales
bride. All the ladies of his court went and tried to put
on the slipper. And they tried and tried and tried, but it
was too small for them all. Then he ordered one of his
ambassadors to mount a fleet horse and ride through the
kingdom and find an owner for the glass shoe. He rode
and he rode to town and castle, and made all the ladies
try to put on the shoe. Many a one tried to get it on that
she might be the prince's bride. But no, it wouldn't do,
and many a one wept, I warrant, because she couldn't get
on the bonny glass shoe. The ambassador rode on and
on till he came at the very last to the house where there
were the three ugly sisters. The first two tried it and it
wouldn't do, and the queen, mad with spite, hacked off the
toes and heels of the third sister, and she could then put
the slipper on, and the prince was brought to marry her,
for he had to keep his promise. The ugly sister was
dressed all in her best and was put up behind the prince
on horseback, and off they rode in great gallantry. But
ye all know, pride must have a fall, for as they rode
along a raven sang out of a bush —
" Hacked Heels and Pinched Toes
Behind the young prince rides,
But Pretty Feet and Little Feet
Behind the cauldron bides."
' What's that the birdie sings ? " said the young prince.
' Nasty lying thing," said the step-sister, " never mind
what it says."
But the prince looked down and saw the slipper drip-
ping with blood, so he rode back and put her down. Then
he said " There must be some one that the slipper has not
been tried on."
Rushen Coatie 155
" Oh, no," said they, " there's none but a dirty thing
that sits in the kitchen nook and wears a rushen
coatie."
But the prince was determined to try it on Rushen
Coatie, but she ran away to the grey stone, where the red
calf dressed her in her bravest dress, and she went to the
prince and the slipper jumped out of his pocket on to her
foot, fitting her without any chipping or paring. So the
prince married her that very day, and they lived happy
ever after.
The King o' the Cats
ONE winter's evening the sexton's wife was sitting
by the fireside with her big black cat, Old Tom,
on the other side, both half-asleep and waiting
for the master to come home. They waited and they
waited, but still he didn't come, till at last he came rush-
ing in, calling out, "Who's Tommy Tildrum ?" in such a
wild way that both his wife and his cat stared at him to
know what was the matter.
" Why, what's the matter ? " said his wife, " and why do
you want to know who Tommy Tildrum is ? "
" Oh, I've had such an adventure. I was digging away
at old Mr. Fordyce's grave when I suppose I must have
dropped asleep, and only woke up by hearing a cat's
Miaou"
" Miaou ! " said Old Tom in answer.
" Yes, just like that ! So I looked over the edge of the
grave, and what do you think I saw ? "
" Now, how can I tell ? " said the sexton's wife.
" Why, nine black cats all like our friend Tom here, all
with a white spot on their chestesses. And what do you
The King o' the Cats 157
think they were carrying? Why, a small coffin covered
with a black velvet pall, and on the pall was a small
coronet all of gold, and at every third step they took
they cried all together, Miaou—
" Miaou ! " said Old Tom again.
"Yes, just like that ! " said the Sexton ; "and as they
came nearer and nearer to me I could see them more
distinctly, because their eyes shone out with a sort of
green light. Well, they all came towards me, eight of
them carrying the coffin, and the biggest cat of all walk-
ing in front for all the world like — but look at our Tom,
how he's looking at me. You'd think he knew all I
was saying."
" Go on, go on," said his wife ; " never mind Old Tom."
" Well, as I was a-saying, they came towards me slowly
and solemnly, and at every third step crying all together,
Miaou- -"
" Miaou ! " said Old Tom again.
"Yes, just like that, till they came and stood right
opposite Mr. Fordyce's grave, where I was, when they all
stood still and looked straight at me. I did feel queer,
that I did ! But look at Old Tom ; he's looking at me
just like they did."
" Go on, go on," said his wife ; " never mind Old
Tom."
" Where was I ? Oh, they all stood still looking at me,
when the one that wasn't carrying the coffin came forward
and, staring straight at me, said to me — yes, I tell 'ee,
said to me — with a squeaky voice, 'Tell Tom Tildrum
that Tim Toldrum's dead,' and that's why I asked you if
you knew who Tom Tildrum was, for how can I tell Tom
English Fairy Tales
Tildrum Tim Toldrum's dead if I don't know who Tom
Tildrumis?"
" Look at Old Tom, look at Old Tom ! " screamed his
wife.
And well he might look, for Tom was swelling and
Tom was staring, and at last Tom shrieked out, " What —
old Tim dead! then I'm the King o' the Cats!" and
rushed up the chimney and was never more seen.
Tamlane
YOUNG TAMLANE was son of Earl Murray, and
Burd Janet was daughter of Dunbar, Earl of
March. And when they were young they loved
one another and plighted their troth. But when the time
came near for their marrying, Tamlane disappeared, and
none knew what had become of him.
Many, many days after he had disappeared, Burd Janet
was wandering in Carterhaugh Wood, though she had been
warned not to go there. And as she wandered she
plucked the flowers from the bushes. She came at last
to a bush of broom and began plucking it. She had not
taken more than three flowerets when by her side up started
young Tamlane.
" Where come ye from, Tamlane, Tamlane ? " Burd
Janet said ; " and why have you been away so long ? "
" From Elfland I come," said young Tamlane. " The
Queen of Elfland has made me her knight."
" But how did you get there, Tamlane ? " said Burd
Janet.
" I was a-hunting one day, and as I rode widershins
160 English Fairy Tales
round yon hill, a deep drowsiness fell upon me, and when
I awoke, behold ! I was in Elfland. Fair is that land
and gay, and fain would I stop but for thee and one
other thing. Every seven years the Elves pay their tithe
to the Nether world, and for all the Queen makes much
of me, I fear it is myself that will be the tithe."
" Oh can you not be saved ? Tell me if aught I can
do will save you, Tamlane ? "
" One only thing is there for my safety. To-morrow
night is Hallowe'en, and the fairy court will then ride
through England and Scotland, and if you would borrow
me from Elfland you must take your stand by Miles Cross
between twelve and one o' the night, and with holy water
in your hand you must cast a compass all around you."
" But how shall I know you, Tamlane," quoth Burd
Janet, " amid so many knights I've ne'er seen before? "
" The first court of Elves that come by let pass, let
pass. The next court you shall pay reverence to, but do
naught nor say aught. But the third court that comes by
is the chief court of them, and at the head rides the
Queen of all Elfland. And by her side I shall ride upon
a milk white steed with a. star in my crown ; they give
me this honour as being a christened knight. Watch my
hands, Janet, the right one will be gloved but the left one
will be bare, and by that token you will know me."
" But how to save you, Tamlane? " quoth Burd Janet.
" You must spring upon me suddenly, and I will fall to
the ground. Then seize me quick, and whatever change
befall me, for they will exercise all their magic on me,
cling hold to me till they turn me into red-hot iron.
Then cast me into this pool and I will be turned back
Tamlane
161
into a mother-naked man. Cast then your green mantle
over me, and I shall be yours, and be of the world
again.
So Burd Janet promised to
do all for Tamlane, and next
night at midnight she took
her stand by Miles Cross and
cast a compass round her
with holy water.
Soon there came riding by
the Elfin court, first over the
mound went a troop on black
steeds, and then another
troop on brown. But in the
third court, all on milk white
steeds, she saw the Queen of
Elfland and by her side a
knight with a star in his
crown with right hand gloved
and the left bare. Then she
knew this was her own Tam-
lane, and springing forward
she seized the bridle of the
milk-white steed and pulled
its rider down. And as soon as he had touched the
ground she let go the bridle and seized him in her arms.
" He's won, he's won amongst us all," shrieked out the
eldritch crew, and all came around her and tried their
spells on young Tamlane.
First they turned him in Janet's arms like frozen ice,
then into a huge flame of roaring fire. Then, again, the
1 62 English Fairy Tales
fire vanished and an adder was skipping through her arms,
but still she held on ; and then they turned him into a
snake that reared up as if to bite her, and yet she held on.
Then suddenly a dove was struggling in her arms, arid
almost flew away. Then they turned him into a swan,
but all was in vain, till at last he was changed into a red-
hot glaive, and this she cast into a well of water and then
he turned back into a mother-naked man. She quickly
cast her green mantle over him, and young Tamlane was
Burd Janet's for ever.
Then sang the Queen of Elfland as the court turned
away and began to resume its march.
" She that has borrowed young Tamlane
Has gotten a stately groom,
She's taken away my bonniest knight
Left nothing in his room.
" But had I known, Tamlane, Tamlane,
A lady would borrow thee,
I'd hae ta'en out thy two grey eyne,
Put in two eyne of tree.
Had I but known, Tamlane, Tamlane,
Before we came from home,
I'd hae ta:en out thy heart o' flesh,
Put in a heart of stone.
" Had I but had the wit yestreen
That I have got to-day,
I'd paid the Fiend seven times his teind
Ere you'd been won away."
And then the Elfin court rode away, and Burd Janet
and young Tamlane went their way homewards and were
soon after married after young Tamlane had again been
sained by the holy water and made Christian once more.
The Stars in the Sky
ONCE on a time and twice on a time, and all times
together as ever I heard tell of, there was a
tiny lassie who would weep all day to have the
stars in the sky to play with ; she wouldn't have this, and
she wouldn't have that, but it was always the stars she
would have. So one fine day off she went to find them.
And she walked and she walked and she walked, till
by-and-by she came to a mill-dam.
" Gooden to ye," says she ; " I'm seeking the stars in
the sky to play with. Have you seen any ? ''
" Oh, yes, my bonny lassie," said the mill-dam. "They
shine in my own face o' nights till I can't sleep for them.
Jump in and perhaps you'll find one."
So she jumped in, and swam about and swam about
and swam about, but ne'er a one could she see. So she
went on till she came to a brooklet.
" Gooden to ye, Brooklet, Brooklet," says she ; " I'm
seeking the stars in the sky to play with. Have you
seen any ? "
" Yes, indeed, my bonny lassie," said the Brooklet.
164 English Fairy Tales
" They glint on my banks at night. Paddle about, and
maybe you'll find one."
So she paddled and she paddled and she paddled, but
ne'er a one did she find. So on she went till she came
to the Good Folk.
" Gooden to ye, Good Folk," says she ; " I'm looking
for the stars in the sky to play with. Have ye seen e'er
a one ? "
" Why, yes, my bonny lassie," said the Good Folk.
" They shine on the grass here o' night. Dance with us,
and maybe you'll find one."
And she danced and she danced and she danced, but
ne'er a one did she see. So down she sate ; I suppose
she wept.
" Oh dearie me, oh dearie me," says she, " I've swam
and I've paddled and I've danced, and if ye'll not help
me I shall never find the stars in the sky to play
with."
But the Good Folk whispered together, and one of
them came up to her and took her by the hand and said,
" If you won't go home to your mother, go forward, go
forward ; mind you take the right road. Ask Four Feet
to carry you to No Feet at all, and tell No Feet at all to
carry you to the stairs without steps, and if you can
climb that-
" Oh, shall I be among the stars in the sky then ? "
cried the lassie.
" If you'll not be, then you'll be elsewhere," said the
Good Folk, and set to dancing again.
So on she went again with a light heart, and by-and-
by she came to a saddled horse, tied to a tree.
The Stars in the Sky 165
" Gooden to ye, Beast," said she ; " I'm seeking the stars
in the sky to play with. Will you give me a lift, for all
my poor bones are a-aching."
" Nay," said the horse, " I know nought of the stars in
the sky, and I'm here to do the bidding of the Good Folk,
and not my own will."
" Well," said she, " it's from the Good Folk I come,
and they bade me tell Four Feet to carry me to No Feet
at all."
" That's another story," said he ; " jump up and ride
with me."
So they rode and they rode and they rode, till they
got out of the forest and found themselves at the edge of
the sea. And on the water in front of them was a wide
glistening path running straight out towards a beautiful
thing that rose out of the water and went up into the
sky, and was all the colours in the world, blue and red
and green, and wonderful to look at.
" Now get you down," said the horse ; " I've brought
ye to the end of the land, and that's as much as Four
Feet can do. I must away home to my own folk."
" But," said the lassie, " where's No Feet at all, and
where's the stair without steps ? "
" I know not," said the horse, " it's none of my
business neither. So gooden to ye, bonny lassie ; " and
off he went.
So the lassie stood still and looked at the water, till a
strange kind of fish came swimming up to her feet.
" Gooden to ye, big Fish," says she ; " I'm looking for
the stars in the sky, and for the stairs that climb up to
them. Will ye show me the way ? "
1 66 English Fairy Tales
" Nay," said the Fish, " I can't, unless you bring me
word from the Good Folk."
" Yes, indeed," said she. " They said Four Feet would
bring me to No Feet at all, and No Feet at all would carry
me to the stairs without steps."
"Ah, well," said the Fish; "that's all right, then.
Get on my back and hold fast."
And off he went — Kerplash ! — into the water, along
the silver path, towards the bright arch. And the nearer
they came the brighter the sheen of it, till she had to
shade her eyes from the light of it.
And as they came to the foot of it, she saw it was a
The Stars in the Sky 167
broad bright road, sloping up and away into the sky, and
at the far, far end of it she could see wee shining things
dancing about.
" Now," said the Fish, " here ye are, and yon's the
stair : climb up, if you can, but hold on fast. I'll
warrant you'll find the stair easier at home than by such
a way ; 'twas ne'er meant for lassies' feet to travel ; " and
off he splashed through the water.
So she clomb and she clomb and she clomb, but ne'er
a step higher did she get : the light was before her and
around her, and the water behind her, and the more she
struggled the more she was forced down into the dark
and the cold, and the more she clomb the deeper she
fell.
But she clomb and she clomb, till she got dizzy in the
light and shivered with the cold, and dazed with the fear ;
but still she clomb, till at last, quite dazed and silly-like,
she let clean go, and sank down — down — down.
And bang she came on to the hard boards, and found
herself sitting, weeping and wailing, by the bedside at
home all alone.
M
News !
R. G. Ha ! Steward, how are you, my old boy ?
How do things go on at home ?
STEWARD. Bad enough, your honour ; the
magpie's dead !
MR. G. Poor Mag ! so he's gone. How came he to
die?
STEWARD. Over-ate himself, Sir.
MR. G. Did he indeed ? a greedy dog. Why, what
did he get that he liked so well ?
STEWARD. Horseflesh ; he died of eating horseflesh.
MR. G. How came he to get so much horseflesh ?
STEWARD. All your father's horses, Sir.
MR. G. What ! are they dead too ?
STEWARD. Ay, Sir ; they died of over-work.
MR. G. And why were they over-worked ?
STEWARD. To carry water, Sir.
MR. G. To carry water, and what were they carrying
water for ?
STEWARD. Sure, Sir, to put out the fire.
MR. G. Fire ! what fire ?
News ! 169
STEWARD. Your father's house is burned down to the
ground.
MR. G. My father's house burnt down ! and how came
it to be on fire ?
STEWARD. I think, Sir, it must have been the torches.
MR. G. Torches ! what torches ?
STEWARD. At your mother's funeral.
MR. G. My mother dead ?
STEWARD. Ay, poor lady, she never looked up after it.
MR. G. After what ?
STEWARD. The loss of your father.
MR. G. My father gone too ?
STEWARD. Yes, poor gentleman, he took to his bed as
soon as he heard of it.
MR. G. Heard of what ?
STEWARD. The bad news, an' it please your honour.
MR. G. What ? more miseries, more bad news !
STEWARD. Yes, Sir, your bank has failed, your credit
is lost and you're not worth a shilling in the world. I
made bold, Sir, to come and wait on you about it ; for I
thought you would like to hear the news.
Puddock, Mousie, and Ratton
T
HERE lived a Puddock in a well,
And a merry Mousie in a mill.
Puddock he would a-wooing ride,
Sword and pistol by his side.
Puddock came to the Mousie's inn,
" Mistress Mousie, are you within ? "
MOUSIE.
" Yes, kind Sir, I am within,
Softly do I sit and spin."
PUDDOCK.
" Madam, I am come to woo,
Marriage I must have of you."
MOUSIE.
" Marriage I will grant you none
Till Uncle Ratton he comes home.'
Puddock, Mousie, and Ratton 171
PUDDOCK
" See, Uncle Ration's now come in
Then go and bask the bride within."
Who is it that sits next the wall
But Lady Mousie both slim and small ?
Who is it that sits next the bride
But Lord Puddock with yellow side ?
But soon came Duckie and with her Sir Drake ;
Duckie takes Puddock and makes him squeak.
Then came in the old carl cat
With a fiddle on his back :
" Do ye any music lack ? "
Puddock he swam down the brook,
Sir Drake he catched him in his fluke.
The cat he pulled Lord Ratton down,
The kittens they did claw his crown.
But Lady Mousie, so slim and small,
Crept into a hole beneath the wall ;
" Squeak," quoth she, " I'm out of it all."
The Little Bull-Calf
CENTURIES of years ago, when almost all this
part of the country was wilderness, there was a
little boy, who lived in a poor bit of property
and his father gave him a little bull-calf, and with it he
gave him everything he wanted for it.
But soon after his father died, and his mother got
married again to a man that turned out to be a very
vicious stepfather, who couldn't abide the little boy. So
at last the stepfather said : " If you bring that bull-calf
into this house, I'll kill it." What a villain he was,
wasn't he ?
Now this little boy used to go out and feed his bull-
calf every day with barley bread, and when he did so
this time, an old man came up to him — we can guess
who that was, eh ? — and said to him : " You and your
bull-calf had better go away and seek your fortune."
So he went on and he went on and he went on, as far
as I could tell you till to-morrow night, and he went up
to a farmhouse and begged a crust of bread, and when he
got back he broke it in two and gave half of it to the
The Little Bull-Calf 173
bull-calf. And he went to another house and begs a bit
of cheese crud, and when he went back he wanted to give
half of it to the bull-calf. " No," says the bull-calf, " I'm
going across the field, into the wild-wood wilderness
country, where there'll be tigers, leopards, wolves, monkeys,
and a fiery dragon, and I'll kill them all except the fiery
dragon, and he'll kill me."
The little boy did cry, and said ! " Oh, no, my little
bull-calf ; I hope he won't kill you."
" Yes, he will," said the little bull-calf, " so you climb
up that tree, so that no one can come nigh you but the
monkeys, and if they come the cheese crud will save you.
And when I'm killed, the dragon will go away for a bit,
then you must come down the tree and skin me, and take
out my bladder and blow it out, and it will kill everything
you hit with it. So when the fiery dragon comes back,
you hit it with my bladder and cut its tongue out."
(We know there were fiery dragons in those days, like
George and his dragon in the Bible ; but, there ! it's not
the same world nowadays. The world is turned topsy-
turvy since then, like as if you'd turned it over with a
spade ! )
Of course, he did all the little bull-calf told him. He
climbed up the tree, and the monkeys climbed up the
tree after him. But he held the cheese crud in his hand,
and said : " I'll squeeze your heart like the flint-stone."
So the monkey cocked his eye as much as to say : " If
you can squeeze a flint-stone to make the juice come out
of it, you can squeeze me." But he didn't say anything,
for a monkey's cunning, but down he went. And all the
while the little bull-calf was fighting all the wild beasts on
174 English Fairy Tales
the ground, and the little lad was clapping his hands up
the tree, and calling out: "Go in, my little bull-calf!
Well fought, little bull-calf ! " And he mastered every-
thing except the fiery dragon, but the fiery dragon killed
the little bull-calf.
But the lad waited and waited till he saw the dragon
go away, then he came down and skinned the little bull-
calf, and took out its bladder and went after the dragon.
And as he went on, what should he see but a king's
daughter, staked down by the hair of her head, for she
had been put there for the dragon to destroy her.
So he went up and untied her hair, but she said : " My
time has come, for the dragon to destroy me ; go away,
you can do no good." But he said : " No ! I can master
it, and I won't go ; " and for all her begging and praying
he would stop.
And soon he heard it coming, roaring and raging from
afar off, and at last it came near, spitting fire and with a
tongue like a great spear, and you could hear it roaring
for miles, and it was making for the place where the
king's daughter was staked down. But when it came up
to them, the lad just hit it on the head with the bladder
and the dragon fell down dead, but before it died, it bit
off the little boy's forefinger.
Then the lad cut out the dragon's tongue and said to
the king's daughter : " I've done all I can, I must leave
you." And sorry she was he had to go, and before he
went she tied a diamond ring in his hair, and said good-
bye to him.
By-and-by, who should come along but the old king,
lamenting and weeping, and expecting to see nothing of
THE LITTLE BULL-CALF
The Little Bull-Calf 175
his daughter but the prints of the place where she had
been. But he was surprised to find her there alive and
safe, and he said : " How came you to be saved ? " So
she told him how she had been saved, and he took her
home to his castle again.
Well, he put it into all the papers to find out who
saved his daughter, and who had the dragon's tongue and
the princess's diamond ring, and was without his fore-
finger. Whoever could show these signs should marry
his daughter and have his kingdom after his death. Well,
any number of gentlemen came from all parts of England,
with forefingers cut off, and with diamond rings and all
kinds of tongues, wild beasts' tongues and foreign tongues.
But they couldn't show any dragons' tongues, so they
were turned away.
At last the little boy turned up, looking very ragged
and desolated like, and the king's daughter cast her eye
on him, till her father grew very angry and ordered them
to turn the little beggar boy away. " Father," says she ;
" I know something of that boy."
Well, still the fine gentlemen came, bringing up their
dragons' tongues that weren't dragons' tongues, and at
last the little boy came up, dressed a little better. So
the old king says : " I see you've got an eye on that boy.
If it has to be him it must be him." But all the others
were fit to kill him, and cried out : " Pooh, pooh, turn
that boy out, it can't be him." But the king said :
" Now, my boy, let's see what you have to sho\v.'
Well, he showed the diamond ring with her name on
it, and the fiery dragon's tongue. How the others were
thunderstruck when he showed his proofs! But the
176 English Fairy Tales
king told him : " You shall have my daughter and my
estate."
So he married the princess, and afterwards got the
king's estate. Then his step-father came and wanted to
own him, but the young king didn't know such a man.
The Wee, Wee Mannie
ONCE upon a time, when all big- folks were wee
ones and all lies were true, there was a wee,
wee Mannie that had a big, big Coo. And out
he went to milk her of a morning, and said —
" Hold still, my Coo, my hinny,
Hold still, my hinny, my Coo,
And ye shall have for your dinner
What but a milk white doo.''
But the big, big Coo wouldn't hold still. " Hout ! " said
the wee, wee Mannie —
" Hold still, my Coo, my dearie,
And fill my bucket wi' milk,
And if ye'll be no contrairy
I'll gi'e ye a gown o' silk."
But the big, big Coo wouldn't hold still,
now ! " said the wee, wee Mannie—
"What's a wee, wee mannie to do,
Wi' such a big contrairy Coo ? "
Look at that,
M
178 English Fairy Tales
So off he went to his mother at the house. "Mother,"
said he, " Coo won't stand still, and wee, wee Mannie can't
milk big, big Coo."
" Hout ! " says his mother, "take stick and beat Coo."
So off he went to get a stick from the tree, and said —
" Break, stick, break,
And I'll gi'e ye a cake."
But the stick wouldn't break, so back he went to the
house. " Mother," says he, " Coo won't hold still, stick
won't break, wee, wee Mannie can't beat big, big Coo."
" Hout ! " says his mother, "go to the Butcher and bid
him kill Coo."
So off he went to the Butcher, and said—
" Butcher, kill the big, big Coo,
She'll gi'e us no more milk noo."
But the Butcher wouldn't kill the Coo without a silver
penny, so back the Mannie went to the house. " Mother,"
says he, " Coo won't hold still, stick won't break, Butcher
won't kill without a silver penny, and wee, wee Mannie
can't milk big, big Coo."
" Well," said his mother, " go to the Coo and tell her
there's a weary, weary lady with long yellow hair weeping
for a cup o' milk/'
So off he went and told the Coo, but she wouldn't hold
still, so back he went and told his mother.
" Well," said she, " tell the Coo there's a fine, fine laddie
from the wars sitting by the weary, weary lady with golden
hair, and she weeping for a sup o' milk."
So off he went and told the Coo, but she wouldn't hold
still, so back he went and told his mother.
The Wee, Wee Mannie 179
" Well," said his mother, " tell the big, big Coo there's a
sharp, sharp sword at the belt of the fine, fine laddie from
the wars who sits beside the weary, weary lady with the
golden hair, and she weeping for a sup o' milk."
And he told the big, big Coo, but she wouldn't hold
still.
Then said his mother, " Run quick and tell her that her
head's going to be cut off by the sharp, sharp sword in the
hands of the fine, fine laddie, if she doesn't give the sup o'
milk the weary, weary lady weeps for."
And wee, wee Mannie went off and told the big. big Coo.
And when Coo saw the glint of the sharp, sharp sword
in the hand of the fine, fine laddie come from the wars,
and the weary, weary lady weeping for a sup o' milk, she
reckoned she'd better hold still ; so wee, wee Mannie
milked big, big Coo, and the weary, weary lady with the
golden hair hushed her weeping and got her sup o3 milk,
and the fine, fine laddie new come from the wars put
by his sharp, sharp sword, and all went well that didn't
go ill.
Habetrot and Scantlie Mab
A WOMAN had one fair daughter, who loved play
better than work, wandering in the meadows and
lanes better than the spinning-wheel and distaff.
The mother was heartily vexed at this, for in those days
no lassie had any chance of a good husband unless she
was an industrious spinster. So she coaxed, threatened,
even beat her daughter, but all to no purpose ; the girl
remained what her mother called her, " an idle cuttie."
At last, one spring morning, the gudewife gave her
seven heads of lint, saying she would take no excuse ;
they must be returned in three days spun into yarn.
The girl saw her mother was in earnest, so she plied her
distaff as well as she could ; but her hands were all un-
taught, and by the evening of the second day only a very
small part of her task was done. She cried herself to
sleep that night, and in the morning, throwing aside her
work in despair, she strolled out into the fields, all
sparkling with dew. At last she reached a knoll, at
whose feet ran a little burn, shaded with woodbine and
wild roses ; and there she sat down, burying her face in
Habetrot and Scantlie Mab 181
her hands. When she looked up, she was surprised to
see by the margin of the stream an old woman, quite
unknown to her, drawing out the thread as she basked in
the sun. There was nothing very remarkable in her
appearance, except the length and thickness of her lips,
only she was seated on a self-bored stone. The girl
rose, went to the good dame, and gave her a friendly
greeting, but could not help inquiring " What makes you
so long lipped ? "
" Spinning thread, my hinnie," said the old woman
pleased with her. " I wet my fingers with my lips, as I
draw the thread from the distaff."
" Ah ! " said the girl, " I should be spinning too, but
it's all to no purpose. I shall ne'er do my task : " on
which the old woman proposed to do it for her. Over-
joyed, the maiden ran to fetch her lint, and placed it in
her new friend's hand, asking where she should call for
the yarn in the evening ; but she received no reply ; the
old woman passed away from her among the trees and
bushes. The girl, much bewildered, wandered about a
little, sat down to rest, and finally fell asleep by the
little knoll.
When she awoke she was surprised to find that it was
evening. Causleen, the evening star, was beaming with
silvery light, soon to be lost in the moon's splendour.
While watching these changes, the maiden was startled
by the sound of an uncouth voice, which seemed to issue
from below the self-bored stone, close beside her. She
laid her ear to the stone and heard the words : " Hurry
up, Scantlie Mab, for I've promised the yarn and
Habetrot always keeps her promise." Then looking
1 82 English Fairy Tales
down the hole saw her friend, the old dame, walking
backwards and forwards in a deep cavern among a group
of spinsters all seated on colludie stones, and busy with
distaff and spindle. An ugly company they were, with
lips more or less disfigured, like old Habetrot's. Another
of the sisterhood, who sat in a distant corner reeling the
yarn, was marked, in addition, by grey eyes, which seemed
starting from her head, and a long hooked nose.
While the girl was still watching, she heard Habetrot
address this dame by the name of Scantlie Mab, and say,
" Bundle up the yarn, it is time the young lassie should
give it to her mother." Delighted to hear this, the girl
got up and returned homewards. Habetrot soon overtook
her, and placed the yarn in her hands. " Oh, what can
I do for ye in return ? " exclaimed she, in delight.
" Nothing — nothing," replied the dame ; " but dinna tell
your mother who spun the yarn."
Scarcely believing her eyes, the girl went home, where
she found her mother had been busy making sausters,
and hanging them up in the chimney to dry, and then,
tired out, had retired to rest. Finding herself very
hungry after her long day on the knoll, the girl took
down pudding after pudding, fried and ate them, and at
last went to bed too. The mother was up first the next
morning, and when she came into the kitchen and found
her sausters all gone, and the seven hanks of yarn lying
beautifully smooth and bright upon the table, she ran out
of the house wildly, crying out —
' My daughter's spun seven, seven, seven,
My daughter's eaten seven, seven, seven,
And all before daylight
Habetrot and Scantlie Mab 183
A laird who chanced to be riding by, heard the
exclamation, but could not understand it ; so he rode up
and asked the gudevvife what was the matter, on which
she broke out again —
" My daughter's spun seven, seven, seven,
My daughter's eaten seven, seven, seven
before daylight ; and if ye dinna believe me, why come
in and see it." The laird, he alighted and went into the
cottage, where he saw the yarn, and admired it so much
he begged to see the spinner.
The mother dragged in her girl. He vowed he was
lonely without a wife, and had long been in search of one
who was a good spinner. So their troth was plighted,
and the wedding took place soon afterwards, though the
bride was in great fear that she should not prove so clever
at her spinning-wheel as he expected. But old Dame
Habetrot came to her aid. " Bring your bonnie bride-
groom to my cell," said she to the young bride soon after
her marriage ; " he shall see what comes o' spinning, and
never will he tie you to the spinning-wheel."
Accordingly the bride led her husband the next day
to the flowery knoll, and bade him look through the self-
bored stone. Great was his surprise to behold Habetrot
dancing and jumping over her rock, singing all the time
this ditty to her sisterhood, while they kept time with
their spindles :—
" We who live in dreary den,
Are both rank and foul to see ;
Hidden from the glorious sun,
That teems the fair earth's canopie :
Ever must our evenings lone
Be spent on the colludie stone.
184 English Fairy Tales
" Cheerless is the evening grey.
When Causleen hath died away,
But ever bright and ever fair,
Are they who breathe this evening air ;
And lean upon the self-bored stone
Unseen by all but me alone."
The song ended, Scantlie Mab asked Habetrot what
she meant by her last line, " Unseen by all but me alone."
" There is one," replied Habetrot, " whom I bid to
come here at this hour, and he has heard my song
through the self-bored stone." So saying she rose,
opened another door, which was concealed by the roots
of an old tree, and invited the pair to come in and see
her family.
Habetrot and Scantlie Mab 185
The laird was astonished at the weird-looking com-
pany, as he well might be, and enquired of one after
another the cause of their strange lips. In a different
tone of voice, and with a different twist of the mouth,
each answered that it was occasioned by spinning. At
least they tried to say so, but one grunted out
" Nakasind," and another " Owkasaand," while a third
murmured " O-a-a-send." All, however, made the bride-
groom understand what was the cause of their ugliness ;
while Habetrot slily hinted that if his wife were allowed to
spin, her pretty lips would grow out of shape too, and her
pretty face get an ugsome look. So before he left the
cave he vowed that his little wife should never touch a
spinning-wheel, and he kept his word. She used to
wander in the meadows by his side, or ride behind him
over the hills, but all the flax grown on his land was sent
to old Habetrot to be converted into yarn.
Old Mother Wiggle-Waggle
T
HE fox and his wife they had a great strife,
They never ate mustard in all their whole life ;
They ate their meat without fork or knife,
And loved to be picking a bone, e-ho !
The fox went out, one still, clear night,
And he prayed the moon to give him light,
For he'd a long way to travel that night,
<
Before he got back to his den-o !
The fox when he came to yonder stile,
He lifted his lugs and he listened a while !
" Oh, ho! " said the fox, " it's but a short mile
From this unto yonder wee town, e-ho ! "
And first he arrived at a farmer's yard,
Where the ducks and the geese declared it was hard,
That their nerves should be shaken and their rest should
be marred
By the visits of Mister Fox-o !
Old Mother Wiggle- Waggle 187
The fox when he came to the farmer's gate,
Who should he see but the farmer's drake ;
" I love you well for your master's sake,
And long to be picking your bones, e-ho ! "
The grey goose she ran round the hay-stack,
" Oh, ho ! " said the fox, " you are very fat ;
You'll grease my beard and ride on my back
From this into yonder wee town, e-ho !
Then he took the grey goose by her sleeve,
And said : " Madam Grey Goose, by your leave
I'll take you away without reprieve,
And carry you back to my den-o ! "
And he seized the black duck by the neck,
And slung him all across his back,
The black duck cried out " quack, quack, quack,"
With his legs all dangling down-o !
Old Mother Wiggle- Waggle hopped out of bed,
Out of the window she popped her old head ;
" Oh ! husband, oh ! husband, the grey goose is gone,
And the fox is off to his den, oh ! "
Then the old man got up in his red cap,
And swore he would catch the fox in a trap ;
But the fox was too cunning, and gave him the slip,
And ran through the town, the town, oh !
When he got to the top of the hill,
He blew his trumpet both loud and shrill,
For joy that he was safe and sound
Through the town, oh !
1 88 English Fairy Tales
But at last he arrived at his home again,
To his dear little foxes, eight, nine, ten,
Says he " You're in luck, here's a fine fat duck,
With his legs all dangling down-o" !
So he sat down together with his hungry wife,
And they did very well without fork or knife,
They never ate a better duck in all their life,
And the little ones picked the bones-o !
,. ,
•^ (
Catskin
WELL, there was once a gentleman who had fine
lands and houses, and he very much wanted
to have a son to be heir to them. So when
his wife brought him a daughter, bonny as bonny could
be, he cared naught for her, and said, " Let me never see
her face."
So she grew up a bonny girl, though her father never
set eyes on her till she was fifteen years old and was
ready to be married. But her father said, "Let her marry
the first that comes for her." And when this was known,
who should be first but a nasty rough old man. So she
didn't know what to do, and went to the henwife and
asked her advice. The henwife said, " Say you will not
take him unless they give you a coat of silver cloth."
Well, they gave her a coat of silver cloth, but she wouldn't
take him for all that, but went again to the henwife, who
said, " Say you will not take him unless they give you a
coat of beaten gold." Well, they gave her a coat of
beaten gold, but still she would not take him, but went
to the henwife, who said, "Say you will not take him unless
190 English Fairy Tales
they give you a coat made of the feathers of all the birds
of the air." So they sent a man with a great heap of
pease ; and the man cried to all the birds of the air,
" Each bird take a pea, and put down a feather." So
each bird took a pea and put down one of its feathers :
and they took all the feathers and made a coat of them
and gave it to her ; but still she would not, but asked the
henwife once again, who said, " Say they must first make
you a coat of catskin." So they made her a coat of
catskin ; and she put it on, and tied up her other coats,
and ran away into the woods.
So she went along and went along and went along,
till she came to the end of the wood, and saw a fine
castle. So there she hid her fine dresses, and went up to
the castle gates, and asked for work. The lady of the
castle saw her, and told her, " I'm sorry I have no better
place, but if you like you may be our scullion." So down
she went into the kitchen, and they called her Catskin,
because of her dress. But the cook was very cruel to
her and led her a sad life.
Well, it happened soon after that the young lord of the
castle was coming home, and there was to be a grand ball
in honour of the occasion. And when they were speaking
about it among the servants, " Dear me, Mrs. Cook," said
Catskin, " how much I should like to go."
" What ! you dirty impudent slut," said the cook, " you
go among all the fine lords and ladies with your filthy
catskin ? a fine figure you'd cut ! " and with that she
took a basin of water and dashed it into Catskin's face.
But she only briskly shook her ears, and said nothing.
When the day of the ball arrived, Catskin slipped out
Catskin 191
of the house and went to the edge of the forest where she
had hidden her dresses. So she bathed herself in a
crystal waterfall, and then put on her coat of silver cloth,
and hastened away to the ball. As soon as she entered
all were overcome by her beauty and grace, while the
young lord at once lost his heart to her. He asked her
to be his partner for the first dance, and he would dance
with none other the livelong night.
When it came to parting time, the young lord said,
" Pray tell me, fair maid, where you live." But Catskin
curtsied and said :
" Kind sir, if the truth I must tell,
At the sign of the ' Basin of Water' I dwell."
Then she flew from the castle and donned her catskin
robe again, and slipped into the scullery again, unbeknown
to the cook.
The young lord went the very next day to his mother,
the lady of the castle, and declared he would wed none
other but the lady of the silver dress, and would never rest
till he had found her. So another ball was soon arranged
for in hope that the beautiful maid would appear again.
So Catskin said to the cook, " Oh, how I should like to
go ! " Whereupon the cook screamed out in a rage, "What,
you, you dirty impudent slut ! you would cut a fine figure
among all the fine lords and ladies." And with that she
up with a ladle and broke it across Catskin's back. But
she only shook her ears, and ran off to the forest, where
she first of all bathed, and then put on her coat of beaten
gold, and off she went to the ball-room.
As soon as she entered all eyes were upon her ; and the
192 English Fairy Tales
young lord soon recognised her as the lady of the " Basin
of Water," and claimed her hand for the first dance, and
did not leave her till the last. When that came, he again
asked her where she lived. But all that she would say
was :
" Kind sir, if the truth I must tell,
At the sign of the ' Broken Ladle ' I dwell ; "
and with that she curtsies, and flew from the ball, off with
her golden robe, on with her catskin, and into the scullery
without the cook's knowing.
Next day when the young lord could not find where
was the sign of the " Basin of Water," or of the " Broken
Ladle," he begged his mother to have another grand ball,
so that he might meet the beautiful maid once more.
All happened as before. Catskin told the cook how
much she would like to go to the ball, the cook called her
" a dirty slut," and broke the skimmer across her head.
But she only shook her ears, and went off to the forest,
where she first bathed in the crystal spring, and then
donned her coat of feathers, and so off to the ball-room.
When she entered everyone was surprised at so beautiful
a face and form dressed in so rich and rare a dress ; but
the young lord soon recognised his beautiful sweetheart,
and would dance with none but her the whole evening.
When the ball came to an end, he pressed her to tell him
where she lived, but all she would answer was :
" Kind sir, if the truth I must tell,
At the sign of the ' Broken Skimmer' I dwell ;"
and with that she curtsied, and was off to the forest. But
this time the young lord followed her, and watched her
Catskin
change her fine dress of feathers for her catskin dress,
and then he knew her for his own scullery-maid.
Next day he went to his mother, the lady of the castle,
and told her that he wished
to marry the scullery-maid,
Catskin. " Never/' said the
lady, and rushed from the
room. Well, the young lord
was so grieved at that, that
he took to his bed and was
very ill. The doctor tried to
cure him, but he would not
take any medicine unless from
the hands of Catskin. So
the doctor went to the lady
of the castle, and told her
her son would die if she did
not consent to his marriage
with Catskin. So she had to
give way, and summoned
Catskin to her. But she put
on her coat of beaten gold,
and went to the lady, who
soon was glad to wed her son
to so beautiful a maid.
Well, so they were married,
and after a time a dear little son came to them, and grew
up a bonny lad ; and one day, when he was four years old,
a beggar woman came to the door, so Lady Catskin gave
some money to the little lord and told him to go and give
it to the beggar woman. So he went and gave it, but put
* N
194 English Fairy Tales
it into the hand of the woman's child, who leant forward
and kissed the little lord. Now the wicked old cook — why
hadn't she been sent away ? — was looking on, so she said,
" Only see ho\v beggars' brats take to one another." This
insult went to Catskin's heart, so she went to her husband,
the young lord, and told him all about her father, and
begged he would go and find out what had become of
her parents. So they set out in the lord's grand coach,
and travelled through the forest till they came to Catskin's
father's house, and put up at an inn near, where Catskin
stopped, while her husband went to see if her father would
own her.
Now her father had never had any other child, and his
wife had died ; so he was all alone in the world and sate
moping and miserable. When the young lord came in he
hardly looked up, till he saw a chair close up to him, and
asked him, " Pray, sir, had you not once a young daughter
whom you would never see or own ? "
The old gentleman said, " It is true ; I am a hardened
sinner. But I would give all my worldly goods if I could
but see her once before I die." Then the young lord told
him what had happened to Catskin, and took him to the
inn, and brought his father-in-law to his own castle, where
they lived happy ever afterwards.
Stupid's Cries
THERE was once a little boy, and his mother sent
him to buy a sheep's head and pluck ; afraid
he should forget it, the lad kept saying all the
way along :
"Sheep's head and pluck !
Sheep's head and pluck ! "
Trudging along, he came to a stile ; but in getting over
he fell and hurt himself, and beginning to blubber, forgot
what he was sent for. So he stood a little while to con-
sider : at last he thought he recollected it, and began
to repeat :
" Liver and lights and gall and all !
Liver and lights and gall and all ! "
Away he went again, and came to where a man had a
pain in his liver, bawling out:
" Liver and lights and gall and all !
Liver and lights and gall and all ! "
Whereon the man laid hold of him and beat him, bidding
him say :
" Pray God send no more !
Pray God send no more ! "
196 English Fairy Tales
The youngster strode along, uttering these words, till he
reached a field where a hind was sowing wheat :
" Pray God send no more !
Pray God send no more !''
This was all his cry. So the sower began to thrash him,
and charged him to repeat :
" Pray God send plenty more !
Pray God send plenty more ! "
Off the child scampered with these words in his mouth
till he reached a churchyard and met a funeral, but he
went on with his :
" Pray God send plenty more !
Pray God send plenty more ! "
The chief mourner seized and punished him, and bade
him repeat:
" Pray God send the soul to heaven !
Pray God send the soul to heaven ! "
Away went the boy, and met a dog and a cat going
to be hung, but his cry rang out !
" Pray God send the soul to heaven !
Pray God send the soul to heaven ! "
The good folk nearly were furious, seized and struck him,
charging him to say :
" A dog and a cat agoing to be hung !
A dog and a cat agoing to be hung ! "
This the poor fellow did, till he overtook a man and a
woman going to be married. " Oh ! oh ! " he shouted :
" A dog and a cat agoing to be hung !
A dog and a cat agoing to be hung ! "
Stupid's Cries 197
The man was enraged, as we may well think, gave him
many a thump, and ordered him to repeat :
" I wish you much joy !
I wish you much joy ! "
This he did, jogging along, till he came to two labourers
who had fallen into a ditch. The lad kept bawling out :
" I wish you much joy !
I wish you much joy ! "
This vexed one of the folk so sorely that he used all
his strength, scrambled out, beat the crier, and told him
to say:
" The one is out, I wish the other was !
The one is out, I wish the other was ! "
On went young 'un till he found a fellow with only one
eye ; but he kept up his song :
" The one is out, I wish the other was !
The one is out, I wish the other was ! "
This was too much for Master One-eye, who grabbed him
and chastised him, bidding him call :
'' The one side gives good light, I wish the other did !
The one side gives good light, I wish the other did ! "
So he did, to be sure, till he came to a house, one side of
which was on fire. The people here thought it was he
who had set the place a-blazing, and straightway put him
in prison. The end was, the judge put on his black cap,
and condemned him to die.
The Lambton Worm
A WILD young fellow was the heir of Lambton, the
fine estate and hall by the side of the swift-
flowing Wear. Not a Mass would he hear in
Brugeford Chapel of a Sunday, but a-fishing he would go.
And if he did not haul in anything, his curses could be
heard by the folk as they went by to Brugeford.
Well, one Sunday morning he was fishing as usual, and
not a salmon had risen to him, his basket was bare of
roach or dace. And the worse his luck, the worse grew
his language, till the passers-by were horrified at his words
as they went to listen to the Mass-priest.
At last young Lambton felt a mighty tug at his line.
" At last," quoth he, " a bite worth having ! " and he pulled
and he pulled, till what should appear above the water
but a head like an eft's, with nine holes on each side of
its mouth. But still he pulled till he had got the thing
to land, when it turned out to be a Worm of hideous
shape. If he had cursed before, his curses were enough
to raise the hair on your head.
" What ails thce, my son ? " said a voice by his side,
The Lambton Worm 199
" and what hast thou caught, that thou shouldst stain the
Lord's Day with such foul language ? "
Looking round, young Lambton saw a strange old
man standing by him.
" Why, truly," he said, " I think I have caught the
devil himself. Look you and see if you know him."
But the stranger shook his head, and said, " It bodes
no good to thee or thine to bring such a monster to shore.
Yet cast him not back into the Wear ; thou hast caught
him, and thou must keep him," and with that away he
turned, and was seen no more.
The young heir of Lambton took up the gruesome
thing, and, taking it off his hook, cast it into a well
close by, and ever since that day that well has gone by
the name of the Worm Well.
For some time nothing more was seen or heard of the
Worm, till one day it had outgrown the size of the well,
and came forth full-grown. So it came forth from the
well and betook itself to the Wear. And all day long it
would lie coiled round a rock in the middle of the stream,
while at night it came forth from the river and harried
the country side. It sucked the cow's milk, devoured
the lambs, worried the cattle, and frightened all the
women and girls of the district, and then it would retire
for the rest of the night to the hill, still called the Worm
Hill, on the north side of the Wear, about a mile and a
half from Lambton Hall.
This terrible visitation brought young Lambton, of
Lambton Hall, to his senses. He took upon himself the
vows of the Cross, and departed for the Holy Land, in
the hope that the scourge he had brought upon his district
200 English Fairy Tales
would disappear. But the grisly Worm took no heed,
except that it crossed the river and came right up to
Lambton Hall itself where the old lord lived on all alone,
his only son having gone to the Holy Land. What to
do ? The Worm was coming closer and closer to the
Hall; women were shrieking, men were gathering
weapons, dogs were barking and horses neighing with
terror. At last the steward called out to the dairy
maids, " Bring all your milk hither," and when they did
so, and had brought all the milk that the nine kye of the
byre had yielded, he poured it all into the long stone
trough in front of the Hall.
The Worm drew nearer and nearer, till at last it came
up to the trough. But when it sniffed the milk, it
turned aside to the trough and swallowed all the milk
up, and then slowly turned round and crossed the river
Wear, and coiled its bulk three times round the Worm
Hill for the night.
Henceforth the Worm would cross the river every day,
and woe betide the Hall if the trough contained the milk
of less than nine kye. The Worm would hiss, and would
rave, and lash its tail round the trees of the park, and in
its fury it would uproot the stoutest oaks and the loftiest
firs. So it went on for seven years. Many tried to de-
stroy the Worm, but all had failed, and many a knight
had lost his life in fighting with the monster, which slowly
crushed the life out of all that came near it.
At last the Childe of Lambton came home to his
father's Hall, after seven long years spent in meditation
and repentance on holy soil. Sad and desolate he found
his folk : the lands untilled, the farms deserted, half the
The Lambton Worm 201
trees of the park uprooted, for none would stay to tend
the nine kye that the monster needed for his food each
day.
The Childe sought his father, and begged his forgiveness
for the curse he had brought on the Hall.
" Thy sin is pardoned," said his father ; " but go thou
to the Wise Woman of Brugeford, and find if aught can
free us from this monster."
To the Wise Woman went the Childe, and asked her
advice.
"Tis thy fault, O Childe, for which we suffer," she
said ; " be it thine to release us."
" I would give my life," said the Childe.
" Mayhap thou wilt do so," said she. " But hear me,
and mark me well. Thou, and thou alone, canst kill the
Worm. But, to this end, thou go to the smithy and have
thy armour studded with spear-heads. Then go to the
Worm's Rock in the Wear, and station thyself there.
Then, when the Worm comes to the Rock at dawn of
day, try thy prowess on him, and God gi'e thee a good
deliverance."
" And this I will do," said Childe Lambton.
" But one thing more," said the Wise Woman, going
back to her cell. " If thou slay the Worm, swear that
thou wilt put to death the first thing that meets thee as
thou Grossest again the threshold of Lambton Hall. Do
this, and all will be well with thee and thine. Fulfil not
thy vow, and none of the Lambtons, for generations three
times three, shall die in his bed. Swear, and fail not."
The Childe swore as the Wise Woman bid, and went
his way to the stithy. There he had his armour studded
2O2 English Fairy Tales
with spear-heads all over. Then he passed his vigils in
Brugeford Chapel, and at dawn of day took his post on
the Worm's Rock in the River Wear.
As dawn broke, the Worm uncoiled its snaky twine
from around the hill, and came to its rock in the river.
When it perceived the Childe waiting for it, it lashed the
waters in its fury and wound its coils round the Childe,
and then attempted to crush him to death. But the more
it pressed, the deeper dug the spear-heads into its sides.
Still it pressed and pressed, till all the water around was
crimsoned with its blood. Then the Worm unwound
itself, and left the Childe free to use his sword. He
raised it, brought it down, and cut the Worm in two.
One half fell into the river, and was carried swiftly away.
Once more the head and the remainder of the body en-
circled the Childe, but with less force, and the spear-heads
did their work. At last the Worm uncoiled itself, snorted
its last foam of blood and fire, and rolled dying into the
river, and was never seen more.
The Childe of Lambton swam ashore, and, raising his
bugle to his lips, sounded its note thrice. This was the
signal to the Hall, where the servants and the old lord
had shut themselves in to pray for the Childe's success.
When the third sound of the bugle was heard, they were
to release Boris, the Childe's favourite hound. But such
was their joy at learning of the Childe's safety and the
Worm's defeat, that they forgot orders, and when the
Childe reached the threshold of the Hall his old father
rushed out to meet him, and would have clasped him
to his breast.
" The vow ! the vow ! " called out the Childe of Lamb-
mmm
The Lambton Worm 203
ton, and blew still another blast upon his horn. This
time the servants remembered, and released Boris, who
came bounding to his young master. The Childe raised
his shining sword, and severed the head of his faithful
hound.
But the vow was broken, and for nine generations of
men none of the Lambtons died in his bed. The last
of the Lambtons died in his carriage as he was crossing
Brugeford Bridge, one hundred and thirty years ago.
The Wise Men of Gotham
Of Buying of Sheep.
THERE were two men of Gotham, and one of them
was going to market to Nottingham to buy sheep,
and the other came from the market, and they
both met together upon Nottingham bridge.
' Where are you going ? " said the one who came from
Nottingham.
" Marry," said he that was going to Nottingham, " I am
going to buy sheep."
' Buy sheep ? " said the other, " and which way will you
bring them home ? "
"Marry," said the other, "I will bring them over this
bridge."
" By Robin Hood," said he that came from Nottingham,
" but thou shalt not."
The Wise Men of Gotham 205
" By Maid Marion," said he that was going thither, " but
I will."
" You will not," said the one.
" I will," said the other.
Then they beat their staves against the ground one
against the other, as if there had been a hundred sheep
between them.
" Hold in," said one ; " beware lest my sheep leap over
the bridge."
" I care not," said the other ; " they shall not come
this way."
" But they shall," said the other.
Then the other said : " If that thou make much to do,
I will put my fingers in thy mouth."
" Will you ? " said the other.
Now, as they were at their contention, another man of
Gotham came from the market with a sack of meal upon
a horse, and seeing and hearing his neighbours at strife
about sheep, though there were none between them,
said :
" Ah, fools ! will you ever learn wisdom ? Help me, and
lay my sack upon my shoulders."
They did so, and he went to the side of the bridge,
unloosened the mouth of the sack, and shook all his meal
out into the river.
" Now, neighbours," he said, " how much meal is there
in my sack ? "
" Marry," said they, " there is none at all."
" Now, by my faith," said he, " even as much wit as is
in your two heads to stir up strife about a thing you
have not."
206 English Fairy Tales
Which was the wisest of these three persons, judge
yourself.
Of Hedging a Cuckoo.
Once upon a time the men of Gotham would have
kept the Cuckoo so that she might sing all the year,
and in the midst of their town they made a hedge
round in compass and they got a Cuckoo, and put her
into it, and said, "Sing there all through the year, or
thou shalt have neither meat nor water." The Cuckoo,
as soon as she perceived herself within the hedge, flew
away. " A vengeance on her ! " said they. " We did
not make our hedge high enough."
Of Sending Cheeses.
There was a man of Gotham who went to the market
at Nottingham to sell cheese, and as he was going down
The Wise Men of Gotham 207
the hill to Nottingham bridge, one of his cheeses fell out
of his wallet and rolled down the hill. " Ah, gaffer," said
the fellow, " can you run to market alone ? I will send
one after another after you." Then he laid down his
wallet and took out the cheeses, and rolled them down
the hill. Some went into one bush, and some went into
another.
" I charge you all to meet me near the market-place ; "
and when the fellow came to the market to meet his
cheeses, he stayed there till the market was nearly done.
Then he went about to inquire of his friends and neigh-
bours, and other men, if they did see his cheeses come to
the market.
"Who should bring them ? " said one of the market men.
" Marry, themselves," said the fellow ; " they know the
way well enough."
He said, " A vengeance on them all. I did fear, to
see them run so fast, that they would run beyond the
market. I am now fully persuaded that they must be
now almost at York." Whereupon he forthwith hired a
horse to ride to York, to seek his cheeses where they
were not, but to this day no man can tell him of his
cheeses.
Of Drowning Eels.
When Good Friday came, the men of Gotham cast
their heads together what to do with their white her-
rings, their red herrings, their sprats, and other salt
fish. One consulted with the other, and agreed that
such fish should be cast into their pond (which was in
the middle of the town), that they might breed against
208 English Fairy Tales
the next year, and every man that had salt fish left cast
them into the pool.
" I have many white herrings," said one.
" I have many sprats," said another.
" I have many red herrings," said the other.
" I have much salt fish. Let all go into the pond or
pool, and we shall fare like lords next year."
At the beginning of next year following the men drew
near the pond to have their fish, and there was nothing
but a great eel. " Ah," said they all, " a mischief on this
eel, for he has eaten up all our fish."
" What shall we do to him ? " said one to the other.
" Kill him," said one.
" Chop him into pieces," said another. " Not so," said
another ; " let us drown him."
" Be it so," said all. And they went to another pond,
and cast the eel into the pond. " Lie there and shift for
yourself, for no help thou shalt have from us ; " and they
left the eel to drown.
Of Sending Rent.
Once on a time the men of Gotham had forgotten to
pay their landlord. One said to the other, " To-morrow
is our pay-day, and what shall we find to send our money
to our landlord ? "
The one said, " This day I have caught a hare, and he
shall carry it, for he is light of foot."
<f Be it so," said all ; " he shall have a letter and a purse
to put our money in, and we shall direct him the right
way." So when the letters were written and the money
The Wise Men of Gotham 209
put in a purse, they tied it round the hare's neck, saying,
" First you go to Lancaster, then thou must go to Lough-
borough, and Newarke is our landlord, and commend us
to him, and there is his dues."
The hare, as soon as he was out
of their hands, ran on along the
country way. Some cried, " Thou
must go to Lancaster first."
" Let the hare alone," said
another ; " he can tell a nearer
way than the best of us all. Let
him go."
Another said, " It is a subtle
hare, let her alone ; she will not keep the highway for
fear of dogs."
Of Counting.
On a certain time there were twelve men of Gotham
who went fishing, and some went into the water and some
on dry ground ; and, as they were coming back, one of
them said, " We have ventured much this day wading ; I
pray God that none of us that did come from home be
drowned."
" Marry," said one, " let us see about that. Twelve of
us came out," and every man did count eleven, and the
twelfth man did never count himself.
"Alas ! " said one to another, "one of us is drowned."
They went back to the brook where they had been fishing,
and looked up and down for him that was drowned, and
made great lamentation. A courtier came riding by, and
he did ask what they were seeking, and why they were so
* o
2io English Fairy Tales
sorrowful. " Oh," said they, " this day we came to fish in
this brook, and there were twelve of us, and one is
drowned."
" Why," said the courtier, " count me how many of you
there be," and one counted eleven and did not count him-
self. " Well," said the courtier, " what will you give me
if I find the twelfth man ? "
" Sir," said they, "all the money we have."
"Give me the money," said the courtier; and he began
with the first, and gave him a whack over the shoulders
that he groaned, and said, " There is one," and he served
all of them that they groaned ; but when he came to the
last he gave him a good blow, saying, " Here is the twelfth
man."
" God bless you on your heart," said all the company ;
" you have found our neighbour."
Princess of Canterbury
THERE lived formerly in the County of Cumberland
a nobleman who had three sons, two of whom were
comely and clever youths, but the other a natural
fool, named Jack, who was generally engaged with the
sheep : he was dressed in a parti-coloured coat, and a
steepled-crowned hat with a tassel, as became his con-
dition. Now the King of Canterbury had a beautiful
daughter, who was distinguished by her great ingenuity
and wit, and he issued a decree that whoever should
answer three questions put to him by the princess should
have her in marriage, and be heir to the crown at his
decease. Shortly after this decree was published, news of
it reached the ears of the nobleman's sons, and the two
clever ones determined to have a trial, but they were sadly
at a loss to prevent their idiot brother from going with them.
They could not, by any means, get rid of him, and were
compelled at length to let Jack accompany them. They
had not gone far, before Jack shrieked with laughter,
saying, " I've found an egg." " Put it in your pocket," said
the brothers. A little while afterwards, he burst out into
212 English Fairy Tales
another fit of laughter on finding a crooked hazel stick,
which he also put in his pocket : and a third time he
again laughed extravagantly because he found a nut.
That also was put with his other treasures.
When they arrived at the palace, they were immediately
admitted on mentioning the nature of their business, and
were ushered into a room where the princess and her suite
were sitting. Jack, who never stood on ceremony, bawled
out, " What a troop of fair ladies we've got here ! "
"Yes," said the princess, "we are fair ladies, for we
carry fire in our bosoms."
" Do you ? " said Jack, " then roast me an egg," pulling
out the egg from his pocket.
'' How will you get it out again ? " said the princess.
"With a crooked stick," replied Jack, producing the
hazel.
" Where did that come from ? " said the princess.
" From a nut," answered Jack, pulling out the nut from
his pocket. I've answered the three questions, and now
I'll have the lady." "No, no," said the king, " not so fast.
You have still an ordeal to go through. You must come
here in a week's time and watch for one whole night with
the princess, my daughter. If you can manage to keep
awake the whole night long you shall marry her next
day."
"But if I can't?" said Jack.
"Then off goes your head," said the king. "But you
need not try unless you like."
Well, Jack went back home for a week, and thought
over whether he should try and win the princess. At
last he made up his mind. "Well," said Jack, " I'll try my
Princess of Canterbury 213
vorton ; zo now vor the king's daughter, or a headless
shepherd ! "
And taking his bottle and bag, he trudged to the courr.
In his way thither, he was obliged to cross a river, and
pulling off his shoes and stockings, while he was passing
over he observed several pretty fish bobbing against his
feet ; so he caught some and put them into his pocket.
When he reached the palace he knocked at the gate loudly
with his crook, and having mentioned the object of his
visit, he was immediately conducted to the hall where the
king's daughter sat ready prepared to see her lovers. He
was placed in a luxurious chair, and rich wines and spices
were set before him, and all sorts of delicate meats. Jack,
unused to such fare, ate and drank plentifully, so that he
was nearly dozing before midnight.
" Oh, shepherd," said the lady, " I have caught you
napping ! "
" Noa, sweet ally, I was busy a-feeshing."
"A fishing," said the princess in the utmost astonish-
ment : " Nay, shepherd, there is no fish-pond in the hall."
" No matter vor that, I have been fishing in my pocket,
and have just caught one."
" Oh me ! " said she, " let me see it."
The shepherd slyly drew the fish out of his pocket and
pretending to have caught it, showed it her, and she
declared it was the finest she ever saw.
About half an hour afterwards, she said, " Shepherd, do
you think you could get me one more ? "
He replied, " Mayhap I may, when I have baited my
hook;" and after a little while he brought out another,
which was finer than the first, and the princess was so
214 English Fairy Tales
delighted that she gave him leave to go to sleep, and
promised to excuse him to her father.
In the morning the princess told the king, to his great
astonishment, that Jack must not be beheaded, for he had
been fishing in the hall all night ; but when he heard how
Jack had caught such beautiful fish out of his pocket, he
asked him to catch one in his own.
Jack readily undertook the task, and bidding the king
lie down, he pretended to fish in his pocket, having
another fish concealed ready in his hand, and giving him
a sly prick with a needle, he held up the fish, and showed
it to the king.
His majesty did not much relish the operation, but he
assented to the marvel of it, and the princess and Jack
were united the same day, and lived for many years in
happiness and prosperity.
CENTRAL CIRCULATION
KO
OYEZ-UYEZ-OYEZ
THE-ENGLISH-FAIR.YTALES
ARE-NOW-CLOSED
LITTLE- BOYS-AND-qiRLS
MUST-NOT-READ-ANYFURTHER
Notes and References
FOR some general remarks on the English Folk-Tale and previous
collectors, I must refer to the introductory observations added to the
Notes and References of English Fairy Tales, in the second edition.
With the present instalment the tale of English Fairy Stories that
are likely to obtain currency among the young folk is complete.
I do not know of more than half-a-dozen "outsiders" that deserve to
rank with those included in my two volumes which, for the present, at
any rate, must serve as the best substitute that can be offered for an
English Grimm. I do not despair of the future. After what Miss
Fison (who, as I have recently learned, was the collector of Torn
Tit Tot and Cap o' Rushes), Mrs. Balfour, and Mrs. Gomme have
done in the way of collecting among the folk, we may still hope for
substantial additions to our stock to be garnered by ladies from the
less frequented portions of English soil. And from the United States
we have every reason to expect a rich harvest to be gathered by Mr.
W. W. Newell, who is collecting the English folk-tales that still remain
current in New England. If his forthcoming book equals in charm,
scholarship, and thoroughness his delightful Games and Songs of
American Children, the Anglo-American folk-tale will be enriched
indeed. A further examination of English nursery rhymes may result
in some additions to our stock. I reserve these for separate treatment
in which I am especially interested, owing to the relations which I
surmise between the folk-tale and the cantc-fablc.
Meanwhile the eighty-seven tales (representing some hundred and
twenty variants) in my two volumes must represent the English folk-
tale as far as my diligence has been able to preserve it at this end of
the nineteenth century. There is every indication that they form but
216 Notes and References
a scanty survival of the whole corpus of such tales which must have
existed in this country. Of the seventy European story-radicles which I
have enumerated in the Folk-Lore Society's Handbook, pp. 117-35, on^>'
forty are represented in our collection : I have little doubt that the
majority of the remaining thirty or so also existed in these isles, and
especially in England. If I had reckoned in the tales current in the Eng-
lish pale of Ireland, as well as those in Lowland Scots, there would have
been even less missing. The result of my investigations confirms me in
my impression that the scope of the English folk-tale should include
all those current among the folk in English, no matter where spoken,
in Ireland, the Lowlands, New England, or Australia. Wherever there
is community of language, tales can spread, and it is more likely that
tales should be preserved in those parts where English is spoken with
most of dialect. Just as the Anglo-Irish Pale preserves more of
the pronunciation of Shakespeare's time, so it is probable that
Anglo-Irish stories preserve best those current in Shakespeare's
time in English. On the other hand, it is possible that some, nay many,
of the Anglo-Irish stories have been imported from the Celtic districts,
and are positively folk-translations from the Gaelic. Further research
is required to determine which is English and which Celtic among
Anglo-Irish folk-tales. Meanwhile my collection must stand for the
nucleus of the English folk-tale, and we can at any rate judge of its
general spirit and tendencies from the eighty-seven tales now before
the reader.
Of these, thirty-eight are mdrchen proper, i.e., tales with definite plot
and evolution ; ten are sagas or legends locating romantic stories in
definite localities; no less than nineteen are drolls or comic anecdotes ;
four are cumulative stories ; six beast tales ; while ten are merely
ingenious nonsense tales put together in such a form as to amuse
children. The preponderance of the comic element is marked, and it
is clear that humour is a characteristic of the English folk. The
legends are not of a very romantic kind, and the miirchen are often
humorous in character. So that a certain air of un-romance is given
by such a collection as that we are here considering. The English
folk-muse wears homespun and plods afoot, albeit with a cheerful
smile and a steady gaze.
Some of this effect is produced by the manner in which the tales
are told. The colloquial manner rarely rises to the dignified, and
the essence of the folk-tale manner in English is colloquial. The
opening formula: are varied enough, but none of them has much
Notes and References 217
play of fancy. " Once upon a time and a very good time it was, though
it wasn't in my time nor in your time nor in any one else's time," is
effective enough for a fairy epoch, and is common, according to Mayhew
(London Labour, iii.), among tramps. We have the rhyming formula :
Once upon a time when pigs spoke rhyme,
And monkeys chewed tobacco,
And hens took snuff to make them tough,
And ducks went quack, quack, quack Oh !
on which I have variants not so refined. Some stories start off without
any preliminary formula, or with a simple " Well, there was once a—
A Scotch formula reported by Mrs. Balfour runs, " Once on a time
when a' muckle folk were \vee and a' lees were true,'' while Mr. Lang
gives us " There was a king and a queen as mony ane's been, few have
we seen and as few may we see." Endings of stories are even less
varied. " So they married and lived happy ever afterwards," comes
from folk-tales, not from novels. " All went well that didn't go ill," is
a somewhat cynical formula given by Mrs. Balfour, while the Scotch
have " they lived happy and died happy, and never drank out of a dry
cappie."
In the course of the tale the chief thing to be noticed is the occur-
rence of rhymes in the prose narrative, tending to give the appearance
of a cante-fable. I have enumerated those occurring in English Fairy
Tales in the Notes to Childe Rowland (No. xxi.). In the present
volume rhyme occurs in Nos. xlvi., xlviii., xlix., Iviiii., lx., Ixiii. (see
Note), Ixiv., Ixxiv., Ixxxi., Ixxxv., while lv., Ixix., Ixxiii., Ixxvi., Ixxxiii.,
Ixxxiv., are either in verse themselves or derived from verse versions-
Altogether one-third of our collection gives evidence in favour of the
cante-fable theory which I adduced in my notes to Childe Rowland.
Another point of interest in English folk-narrative is the repetition of
verbs of motion, " So he went along and went along and went along."'
Still more curious is a frequent change of tense from the Engli-h
present to the past. "So he gets up and went along." All this
helps to give the colloquial and familiar air to the English fairy-tale,
not to mention the dialectal and archaic words and phrases which
occur in them.
But their very familiarity nnd colloquialism make them remarkably
effective with English-speaking little ones. The rhythmical phrases
stick in their memories ; they can remember the exact phraseology ot
218 Notes and References
the English tales much better, I find, than that of the Grimms' tales,
or even of the Celtic stories. They certainly have the quality of coming
home to English children. Perhaps this may be partly due to the fact
that a larger proportion of the tales are of native manufacture. If the
researches contained in my Notes are to be trusted only i.-ix., xi., xvn.,
xxii., xxv., xxvi., xxvii., xliv., 1., liv., lv., Iviii., Ixi., Ixii., Ixv., Ixvii., Ixxviii.,
Ixxxiv., Ixxxvii. were imported ; nearly all the remaining sixty are home
produce, and have their roots in the hearts of the English people which
naturally respond to them.
In the following Notes I have continued my practice of giving
(i) Source where I obtained the various tales. (2) Parallels, so far
as possible, in full for the British Isles, with bibliographical references
when they can be found ; for occurrences abroad I generally refer to
the lists of incidents contained in my paper read before the Inter-
national Folk-Lore Congress of 1891 and republished in the Trans-
actions 1 892, pp. 87-98. (3) Remarks where the tale seems to need them.
I have mainly been on the search for signs of diffusion rather than of
" survivals" of antiquarian interest, though I trust it will be found I
have not neglected these.
XLIV. THE PIED PIPER.
Source. — Abraham Elder, Tales and Legends of the Isle of Wight,
(London, 1839), pp. 157-164. Mr. Nutt, who has abridged and
partly rewritten the story from a copy of Elder's book in his posses-
sion, has introduced a couple of touches from Browning.
Parallels. — The well-known story of the Pied Piper of Hameln
(Hamelin), immortalised by Browning, will at once recur to every
reader's mind. Before Browning, it had been told in English in books
as well known as Yerstegan's Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, 1605;
Howell's Familiar Letters (see my edition, p. 357, «.) ; and Wanley's
Wonders of the Little World. Browning is said to have taken it from
the last source (Furnivall, Browning Bibliography, 158), though there
are touches which seem to me to come from Howell (see my note
(id loc.\ while it is not impossible he may have come across Elder's
book, which was illustrated by Cruikshank. The Grimms give the
legend in their Deutsche Sagcn (ed. 1816, 330-33), and in its native
land it has given rise to an elaborate poem a la Scheffel by Julius
Wolft, which has in its turn been the occasion of an opera by Victor
Nessler. Mrs. Gutch, in an interesting study of the myth in Folk-Lore,
Notes and References 219
iii. pp. 227-52, quotes a poem, The Sea Piece, published by Dr. Kirk-
patrick in 1750, as showing that a similar legend was told of the
Cave Hill, near Belfast.
Here, as Tradition's hoary legend tells,
A blinking Piper once with magic Spells
And strains beyond a vulgar Bagpipe's sound,
Gathered the dancing Country wide around.
When hither as he drew the tripping Rear
(Dreadful to think and difficult to swear !)
The gaping Mountain yawned from side to side,
A hideous Cavern, darksome, deep, and wide ;
In skipt th' exulting Demon, piping loud,
With passive joy succeeded by the Crowd.
* * # *
There firm and instant closed the greedy Womb,
Where wide-born Thousands met a common Tomb.
Remarks. — Mr. Baring-Gould, in his Curious Myths of the Middle
Ages, has explained the Pied Piper as a wind myth ; Mrs. Gutch is
inclined to think there may be a substratum of fact at the root of the
legend, basing her conclusions on a pamphlet of Dr. Meinardus, Der
historische Kern, which I have not seen. She does not, however,
give any well-authenticated historical event at Hameln in the
thirteenth century which could have plausibly given rise to the
legend, nor can I find any in the Urkundenbuch of Hameln (Lune-
berg, 1883). The chief question of interest attaching to the English
form of the legend as given in 1839 by Elder, is whether it is inde-
pendent of the German myth. It does not occur in any of the local
histories of the Isle of Wight which I have been able to consult of a
date previous to Elder's book — e.g., J. Hassel, Tour of the Isle of
Wight, 1790. Mr. Shore, in his History of Hampshire, 1891, p. 185,
refers to the legend, but evidently bases his reference on Elder, and
so with all the modern references I have seen. Now Elder himself
quotes Yerstegan in his comments on the legend, pp. 168-9 an<-l note,
and it is impossible to avoid conjecturing that he adapted Versle^-in
to the locality. Xewtown, when Hassel visited it in 1790, had only
six or seven houses (I.e. \. 137-8), though it had the privilege of
returning two members to Parliament ; it had been a populous town
by the name of Franchville before the French invasion of the island
22o Notes and References
of temp. Ric. II. It is just possible that there may have been a local
legend to account for the depopulation by an exodus of the children.
But the expression " pied piper" which Elder used clearly came from
Verstegan, and until evidence is shown to the contrary the whole of
the legend was adapted from him. It is not without significance that
Elder was writing in the days of the Ingoldsby Legends, and had
possibly no more foundation for the localisation of his stories than
Barham.
There still remains the curious parallel from Belfast to which Mrs.
dutch has drawn attention. Magic pipers are not unknown to
English folk-lore, as in the Percy ballad of The Frere and the Boy, or
in the nursery rhyme of Tom Piperson in its more extended form.
But beguiling into a mountain is not known elsewhere except at
Hameln, which was made widely known in England by Yerstegan's
and HowelFs accounts, so that the Belfast variant is also probably to
be traced to the Ratten/anger. Here again, as in the case of Bedd-
gellert (Celtic Fairy Talcs, No. xxi.), the Blinded Giant and the
Pedlar of Swaffham (infra, Nos. Ixi., Ixiii.), we have an imported
legend adapted to local conditions.
XLV. HEREAFTERTHIS.
Source. — Sent me anonymously soon after the appearance of
English Fairy Tales. From a gloss in the MS. " vitty " = Devonian
for " decent," I conclude the tale is current in Devon. I should be
obliged if the sender would communicate with me.
I'arallcls. — The latter part has a certain similarity with "Jack
Hannaford " (No. viii.). Halliwell's story of the miser who kept his
money "for luck" (p. 153) is of the same type. Halliwell remarks
tiiat the tale throws light on a passage in Ben Jcnson :
Say we are robbed,
If any come to borrow a spoon or so
I will not have Good Fortune or God's Blessing
Let in, while I am busy.
The earlier part of the tale has resemblance with " Lazy Jack"
(No. xxvii.), the European variants of which are given by M. Cosquin,
Contes dc Lorraine, i. 241. Jan's satisfaction with his wife's blunders
Notes and References 221
is also European (Cosquin, I.e. i. 157). On minding the door and
dispersing robbers by its aid see " Mr. Vinegar" (No. vi.).
Remarks. — " Hereafterthis " is thus a melange of droll incidents, yet
has characteristic folkish touches (" can you milk-y, bake-y," " when I
lived home") which give it much vivacity.
XLVI. THE GOLDEN BALL.
Source. — Contributed to the first edition of Henderson's Folk-Lore
of the Northern Counties, pp. 333-5, by Rev. S. Baring-Gould.
Parallels. — Mr. Nutt gave a version in Folk-Lore Journal, vi. 144.
The man in instalments occurs in "The Strange Visitor " (No. xxxii.).
The latter part of the tale has been turned into a game for English
children, " Mary Brown," given in Miss Plunket's Merry Games, but
not included in Newell, Games and Songs of American Children.
Remarks. — This story is especially interesting as having given rise
to a game. Capture and imprisonment are frequently the gruesome
motif 'of children's games, as in " Prisoner's base." Here it has been
used with romantic effect.
XLVI I. MY OWN SELF.
Source. — Told to Mrs. Balfour by Mrs. W., a native of North
Sunderland, who had seen the cottage and heard the tale from
persons who had known the widow and her boy, and had got the
story direct from them. The title was " Me A'an SeF," which I have
altered to " My Own Self."
Parallels. — Notwithstanding Mrs. Balfour's informant, the same tale
is widely spread in the North Country. Hugh Miller relates it, in his
Scenes from my Childhood, as " Ainsel" ; it is given in Mr. Hartland's
English Folk and Fairy Tales; Mr. F. B. Jevons has heard it in the
neighbourhood of Durham; while a further version appeared in
Monthly Chronicle of North Country Folk Lore. Further parallels
abroad are enumerated by Mr. Clouston in his Book of Noodles, pp.
194-5, and by the late Prof. Kohler in Orient and Occident^. 331.
The expedient by which Ulysses outwits Polyphemus in the Odyssey
by calling himself ovns is clearly of the same order.
Remarks.— The parallel with the Odyssey suggests the possibility
that this is the ultimate source of the legend, as other parts of the
222 Notes and References
epic have been adapted to local requirements in Great Britain, as in
the "Blinded Giant" (No. Ixi.), or " Conall Yellowclaw" (Celtic Fairy
Tales, No. v.). The fact of Continental parallels disposes of the
possibility of its being a merely local legend. The fairies might
appear to be in a somewhat novel guise here as something to be
afraid of. But this is the usual attitude of the folk towards the
" Good People," as indeed their euphemistic name really implies.
XLVIII. THE BLACK BULL OF NORROWAY.
Source. — Chambers's Popular Rhymes of Scotland, much Anglicised
in language, but otherwise unaltered.
Parallels. — Chambers, I.e., gave a variant with the title " The Red
Bull o' Norroway." Kennedy, Legendary Fictions, p. 87, gives a
variant with the title " The Brown Bear of Norway." Mr. Stewart gave
a Leitrim version, in which " Norroway " becomes " Orange," in Folk
Lore for June 1893, which Miss Peacock follows up with a Lincoln-
shire parallel (showing the same corruption of name) in the September
number. A reference to the " Black Bull o' Norroway" occurs in
Sidney's Arcadia, as also in the Complaynt of Scotland, 1548. The
"sale of bed'' incident at the end has been bibliogiaphised by Miss
Cox in her volume of variants of Cinderella, p. 481. It probably
existed in one of the versions of Nix Nought Nothing (No. vii.).
Remarks. — The Black Bull is clearly a Beast who ultimately wins a
Beauty. But the tale as is told is clearly not sufficiently motivated.
Miss Peacock's version renders it likely that a fuller account may
yet be recovered in England.
XLIX. YALLERY BROWN.
Source. — Mrs. Balfour's " Legends of the Lincolnshire Fens," in
Folk Lon\ ii. It was told to Mrs. Balfour by a labourer, who pro-
fessed to be the hero of the story, and related it in the first person.
I have given him a name, and changed the narration into the oblique
narration, and toned down the dialect.
Parallels.— " Tiddy Mun," the hero of another of Mrs. Balfour's
legends (I.e., p. 151) was "none bigger 'n a three years old bairn," and
had no proper name.
Remarks. — One might almost suspect Mrs. Balfour of being the
Notes and References 223
victim of a piece of invention on the part of her autobiographical
informant. But the scrap of verse, especially in its original dialect,
has such a folkish ring that it is probable he was only adapting a
local legend to his own circumstances.
L. THE THREE FEATHERS.
Source. — Collected by Mrs. Gomme from some hop-pickers near
Deptford.
Parallels. — The beginning is a la Cupid and Psyche, on which Mr.
Lang's monograph in the Carabas series is the classic authority. The
remainder is an Eastern tale, the peregrinations of which have been
studied by Mr. Clouston in his Pop. Tales and Fictions, ii. 289, seq.
The Wrighfs Chaste Wife, is the English fabliau on the subject.
M. Bddier, in his recent work on Les Fabliaux, pp. 411-13, denies the
Eastern origin of the fabliau, but in his Indiaphobia M. Bedier is
" capable de tout." In the Indian version the various messengers are
sent by the king to test the chastity of a peerless wife of whom he has
heard. The incident occurs in some versions of the Battle of the
Birds story (Celtic Fairy Tales, No. xxiv.), and considering the wide
spread of this in the British Isles, it was possibly from this source
that it came to Deptford.
LI. SIR GAMMER VANS.
Source. — Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes and Tales.
Parallels.— There is a Yorkshire Lying Tale in Henderson's Folk
Love, first edition, p. 337, a Suffolk one, " Happy Borz:l,:i in Suffolk
Notes and Queries, while a similar jingle of inconsequent absurdities,
commencing " So he died, and she unluckily married the barber, and
a great bear coming up the street popped his head into the window,
saying, ' Do you sell any soap ' ? " is said to have been invented by
Charles James Fox to test Sheridan's memory, who repeated it after
one hearing. (Others attribute it to Foote.) Similar Lugenmarchen are
given by the Grimms, and discussed by them in their Notes, Mrs.
Hunt's translation, ii. pp. 4^4, 435> 44^, 45O> 452» <•'/• Crane, Ital. Pop.
Tales, p. 263.
Remarks. — The reference to venison warrants, and bows and arrows,
seem to argue considerable antiquity for this piece of nonsense. The
honorific prefix "Sir" may in that case refer to clerkly qualities
rather than to knighthood.
224 Notes and References
LII. TOM HICKATHRIFT.
Source.— From the Chapbook, c. 1660, in the Pepysian Library,
edited for the Villon Society by Mr. G. L. Gomme. Mr. Nutt, who
kindly abridged it for me, writes, " Nothing in the shape of incident
has been omitted, and there has been no re-writing beyond a phrase
here and there rendered necessary by the process of abridgment. But
I have in one case altered the sequence of events, putting the fight
with the giant last."
/'</ra//6'/.y.— There are similar adventures of giants in Hunt's
Cornish Drolls. Sir Francis Palgrave (Quart. Rev., vol. xxi.), and,
after him, Mr. Gomme, have drawn attention to certain similarities
with the Grettir Saga, but they do not extend beyond general resem-
blances of great strength. Mr. Gomme, however, adds that the cart-
wheel " plays a not unimportant part in English folk-lore as a repre-
sentative of old runic faith" (Villon Soc. edition, p. xv.).
Remarks.— Mr. Gomme, in his interesting Introduction, points out
several indications of considerable antiquity for the legend, various
expressions in the Pepysian chapbook ("in the marsh of the Isle of
Ely,': " good ground "), indicating that it could trace back to the six-
teenth century. On the other hand, there is evidence of local
tradition persisting from that time onward till the present day
(Weaver, Funerall Monuments, 1631, pp. 866-7 5 Spelman, Icenia,
1640, p. 138 ; Dugdale, linbanking, 1662 (ed. 1772, p. 244) ; Blomefield,
Norfolk, 1808, ix. pp. 79, 80). These refer to a sepulchral monument
in Tylney churchyard which had figured on a stone coffin an axle-
tree and cart-wheel. The name in these versions of the legend is
given as Hickifric, and he is there represented as a village Hampden
who withstood the tyranny of the local lord of the manor. Mr. Gomme
is inclined to believe, I understand hi in, that there is a certain amount
of evidence for Tom Hickathrift being a historic personality round
whom some of the Scandinavian mythical exploits have gathered. I
must refer to his admirable Introduction for the ingenious line of
reasoning on which he bases these conclusions. Under any circum-
stances no English child's library of folk-tales can be considered com-
plete that does not present a version of Mr. Hickathrift's exploits.
Notes and References 225
LI 1 1. THE MEDLEY KOW.
Source.— Told to Mrs. Balfour by Mrs. M. of S. Northumbcrl.in.l.
Mrs. M.'s mother told the tale as having happened to a person she
had known when young : she had herself seen the Hedley Kow twice,
once as a donkey and once as a wisp of straw. " Kow " must not be
confounded with the more prosaic animal with a C.
Parallels.— There is a short reference to the Hedley Kow in
Henderson, I.e., first edition, pp. 234-5. Our story is shortly referred
to thus : " He would present himself to some old dame gathering
sticks, in the form of a truss of straw, which she would be sure to
take up and carry away. Then it would become so heavy that she
would have to lay her burden down, on which the straw would
become ' quick,' rise upright and shuffle away before her, till at last it
vanished from her sight with a laugh and shout." Some of Robin
Goodfellcw's pranks are similar to those of the Hedley Kow. The
old woman's content with the changes is similar to that of "Mr.
Vinegar." An ascending scale of changes has been studied by Prof.
Crane, Italian Popular Talcs, p. 373.
LIV. GOBBORN SEER.
Source. — Collected by Mrs. Gomme from an old woman at Dept-
ford. It is to be remarked that " Gobborn Seer" is Irish (Goban
Saor = free carpenter), and is the Irish equivalent of Wayland Smith,
and occurs in several place names in Ireland.
Parallels. — The essence of the tale occurs in Kennedy, I.e., p. 67
seq. Gobborn Seer's daughter was clearly the clever lass who
is found in all parts of the Indo-European world. An instance
in my Indian Fairy Tah^.^ "Why the Fish laughed'' (No. xxiv.).
She has been made a special study of by Prof. Child, English and
Scotch Ballads, i. 485, while an elaborate monograph by Prof. Benfry
under the title " Die Kluge Dime" (reprinted in his Klcinc Schriftcn,
ii. 156 seq.), formed the occasion for his rirst presentation of his now
well-known hypothesis of the derivation of all folk-tales from India.
Remarks. — But for the accident of the title being preserved there
would have been nothing to show that this tale had been imported
into England from Ireland, whither it had probably been carried all
the wav from India.
226 Notes and References
LV. LAWKAMERCYME.
Source. — Halliwell, Nursery Rhymes.
Parallels.— It is possible that this is an Eastern "sell" : it occurs
at any rate as the first episode in Fitzgerald's translation of Jami's
Saldmdn and Ab sal. Jami, ob. 1492, introduces the story to illustrate
the perplexities of the problem of individuality in a pantheistic
system.
Lest, like the simple Arab in the tale,
I grow perplext, O God ! 'twixt ME and THEE,
If I — this Spirit that inspires me whence?
If THOU — then what this sensual impotence?
In other words, M. Bourget's Cruelle Enigmc. The Arab yokel
coming to Bagdad is fearful of losing his identity, and ties a pumpkin
to his leg before going to sleep. His companion transfers it to his
own leg. The yokel awaking is perplexed like the pantheist.
If I — the pumpkin why on YOU?
If YOU — then where am I, and WHO ?
LVI. TATTERCOATS.
Source. — Told to Mrs. Balfour by a little' girl named Sally Brown,
when she lived in the Cars in Lincolnshire. Sally had got it from her
mother, who worked for Mrs. Balfour. It was originally told in
dialect, which Mrs. Balfour has omitted.
Parallels. — Miss Cox has included "Tattercoats" in her exhaustive
collection of parallels of Cinderella (Folk-Lore Society Publications,
1892), No. 274 from the MS. which I had lent her. Miss Cox rightly
classes it as " Indeterminate," and it has only the Menial Heroine and
Happy Marriage episodes in common with stories of the Cinderella
type.
Remarks. — "Tattercoats " is of interest chiefly as being without any
"fairy" or supernatural elements, unless the magic pipe can be so
considered ; it certainly gives the tale a fairy-like element. It is
practically a prose variant of " King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid,''
and is thus an instance of the folk-novel pure and simple, without any
admixture of those unnatural incidents which transform the folk-novel
into the serious folk-tale as we are accustomed to have it. Which is
the prior, folk-novel or tale, it would be hard to say.
Notes and References 227
LVII. THE WEE BANNOCK.
Source. — Chambers's Popular Rhymes of Scotland. I have attempted
an impossibility, I fear, in trying to anglicise, but the fun of the
original tempted me. There still remain several technical trade
terms requiring elucidation. I owe the following to the kindness of
the Rev. Mr. Todd Martin, of Belfast. Laivtrod=\?cp board on which
the tailor irons ; tow cards, the comb with which tow is carded ; the
dove, a heavy wooden knife for breaking up the flax. Heckling is
combing it with a heckle or wooden comb ; binnings are halters for
cattle made of sprit or rushes. Spurtle — spoon ; 7t'/«>/j = gorse.
Parallels. — This is clearly a variant of " Johnnycake" -journey
cake, No. xxviii., where see Notes.
Remarks. — But here the interest is with the pursuers rather than
with the pursued. The subtle characterisation of the various occupa-
tions reaches a high level of artistic merit. Mr. Barrie himself could
scarcely have succeeded better in a very difficult task.
LVIII. JOHNNY GLOKE.
Source. — Contributed by Mr. W. Gregor to Folk-Lore Journal, vii.
I have rechristened "Johnny Glaik" for the sake of the rhyme, and
anglicised the few Scotticisms.
Parallels. — This is clearly "The Valiant Tailor" of the Grimms :
" x at a blow " has been bibliographised. (See my list of Incidents in
Trans. Folk-Lore Congress, 1892, sub vocc.}
Remarks.— How " The Valiant Tailor" got to Aberdeen one cannot
tell, though the resemblance is close enough to suggest a direct
" lifting " from some English version of " Grimm's. Goblins.'' At the
same time it must be remembered that "Jack the Giant Killer' see
Notes on No. xix.) contains some of the incidents of the Valiant
Tailor.
LIX. COAT O' CLAY.
Source. — Contributed by Mrs. Balfour originally to Longmans
Magazine, and thence to Folk-Lore, Sept. 1890.
Remarks.— A rustic apologue, which is scarcely more than a pro-
longed pun on " Coat o' Clay." Mrs. Balfour's telling redeems it from
the usual dulness of folk-tales with a moral or a double meaning.
228 Notes and References
LX. THE THREE COWS.
Source. — Contributed to Henderson, /.< ., pp. 321-2, by the Rev.
S. Baring-Gould.
Parallels. — The incident "Bones together" occurs in " Rushen
Coatie" (infra, No. Ixx.), and has been discussed by the Grimms,
'• 399; a°d by Prof. Kohler, Or. und Occ. ii. 680.
LXI. THE BLINDED GIANT.
Source. — Henderson's Folk-Lore of Northern Counties. See also
Folk- Lore.
Parallels. — Polyphemus in the Odyssey and the Celtic parallels in
Celtic Fairy Tales, No. v., " Conall Yellowclaw." The same incident
occurs in one of Sindbad's voyages.
Remarks. — Here we have another instance of the localisation of a
well-known myth. There can be little doubt that the version is ulti-
mately to be traced back to the Odyssey. The one-eyed giant, the
barred door, the escape through the blinded giant's legs in the skin of
a slaughtered animal, are a series of incidents that could not have
arisen independently and casually. Yet till lately the mill stood to
prove if the narrator lied, and every circumstance of local particularity
seemed to vouch for the autochthonous character of the myth. The
incident is an instructive one, and I have therefore included it in
this volume, though it is little more than an anecdote in its present
shape.
LXII. SCRAPEFOOT.
Source. — Collected by Mr. Batten from Mrs. H., who heard it from
her mother over forty years ago.
Parallels. — It is clearly a variant of Southey's " Three Bears "
(No. xviii.).
Remarks. — This remarkable variant raises the question whether
Southey did anything more than transform Scrapefoot into his
naughty old woman, who in her turn has been transformed by popular
tradition into the naughty girl Silverhair. Mr. Nutt ingeniously
suggests that Southey heard the story told of an old vixen, and
mistook the rustic name of a female fox for the metaphorical
application to women of fox-like temper. Mrs. H.'s version to my
Notes and References 229
mind has all the marks of priority. It is throughout ;m ani
tale, the touch at the end of the shaking the paws and the n
Scrapefoot are too voikstiimlich to have been conscious variations
on Southey's tale. In introducing the story in his Doctor, the poet
laureate did not claim to do more than repeat a popular tale. I
think that there can be little doubt that in .Mrs. H.'s version we h.ive
now recovered this in its original form. If this is so, we may here
have one more incident of the great northern beast epic of bear and
fox, on which Prof. Krohn has written an instructive monograph. Il.tr
(Wolf.) und Fuchs (Helsingfors, 1889).
LXIII. THE PEDLAR OF SWAFFHAM.
Source. — Diary of Abraham dc la Pry me (Surtees Soc.) under date
loth Nov., 1699, but re-written by Mr. Nutt, who has retained the few
characteristic seventeenth century touches of Pryme's dull and colour-
less narration. There is a somewhat fuller account in Blomfield's
History of Norfolk, vi. 211-13, from Twysden's Reminiscences, cd.
Hearne, p. 299. In this there is a double treasure ; the first in an iron
pot with a Latin inscription, which the pedlar, whose name is John
Chapman, does not understand. Inquiring its meaning from a learned
friend, he is told—
Under me doth lie
Another much richer than I.
He accordingly digs deeper and finds another pot of gold.
Parallels. — Blomfield refers to Fungerus, Etymologic ion J.aliiw-
Gnccum, pp. 11 10-1 1, where the same story is told of a peasant of
Doit, in Holland, who was similarly directed to go to Kempen Bridge.
Prof. E. B. Cowell, who gives the passage from Fungerus in a special
paper on the subject in \hz Journal of Philology, vi. 189-95, points out
that the same story occurs in the Masnai'i of the Persian port Jala-
luddin, whose yforw// is 1260 A.M. Here a young spendthrift of Bagdad
is warned in a dream to repair to Cairo, with the usual result of being
referred back.
Remarks.— The artificial character of the incident is suftirient to
prevent its having occurred in reality or to more than one inventive
imagination. It must therefore have been brought to Europe I
the East and adapted to local conditions at Dort and Swaffham
Prof. Cowell suggests that it was possibly adapted at the latter plai e
to account for the effigy of the pedlar and his dog.
230 Notes and References
LXIV. THE OLD WITCH.
Source. — Collected by Mrs. Gomme at Deptford.
Parallels. — I have a dim memory of hearing a similar tale in
Australia in 1860. It is clearly parallel with the Grimms' u Frau
Holle," where the good girl is rewarded and the bad punished in a
similar way. Perrault's "Toads and Diamonds" is of the same
genus.
LXV. THE THREE WISHES.
Source. — Sternberg's Folk-Lore of Northamptonshire^ 1851, but
entirely re-written by Mr. Nutt, who has introduced from other
variants one touch at the close — viz., the readiness of the wife to
allow her husband to remain disfigured.
Parallels. — Perrault's " Trois Souhaits" is the same tale, and Mr.
Lang has shown in his edition of Perrault (pp. xlii.-li.) how widely
spread is the theme throughout the climes and the ages. I do not,
however, understand him to grant that they are all derived from one
source — that represented in the Indian Pantschatantra. In my
sEsop, i. 140-1, I have pointed out an earlier version in Phaidrus
where it occurs (as in the prose versions) as the fable of Mercury and
the two Women, one of whom wishes to see her babe when it has a
beard ; the other, that everything she touches may follow her, which
she would find useful in her profession. The babe becomes bearded,
and the other woman raising her hand to wipe her eyes finds her nose
following her hand — denouement on which the scene closes. M. Be"dier,
as usual, denies the Indian origin, Les Fabliaux, pp. 177 scq.
Remarks. — I have endeavoured to show, l.c , that the Phsedrine form
is ultimately to be derived from India, and there can be little doubt
that all the other variants, which are only variations on one idea, and
that an absurdly incongruous one. were derived from India in the last
resort. The case is strongest for drolls of this kind.
LXVI. THE BURIED MOON.
Source.— Mrs. Balfour's " Legends of the Lincolnshire Cars " in
Folk-Lore, ii., somewhat abridged and the dialect removed. The
story was derived from a little girl named Bratton, who declared she
had heard it from her "grannie." Mrs. Balfour thinks the girl's own
weird imagination had much to do with framing the details.
Notes and References 2^1
\j
Remar&s.—The tale is noteworthy as being distinctly mythical in
character, and yet collected within the last ten years from one of the
English peasantry. The conception of the moon as a beneficent
being, the natural enemy of the bogles and other dwellers of the
dark, is natural enough, but scarcely occurs, so far as I recollect, in
other mythological systems. There is, at any rate, nothing analogous
in the Grimms' treatment of the moon in their Teutonic ITythology,
tr. Stallybrass, pp. 701-21.
LXVII. A SON OF ADAM.
Source.— From memory, by Mr. E. Sidney Hartland, as heard by
him from his nurse in childhood.
Parallels. — Jacques de Vitry Excinpla, ed. Prof. Crane, No. xiii.,
and references given in notes, p. 139. It occurs in Swit't and in
modern Italian folk-lore.
Remarks. — The Exempla were anecdotes, witty and otherwise, used
by the monks in their sermons to season their discourse. Often they
must have been derived from the folk of the period, and at first sight
it. might seem that we had found still extant among the folk the story
that had been the original of Jacques de Yitry's Excmplitm. But the
theological basis of the story shows clearly that it was originally a
monkish invention and came thence amon^r the folk.
LXVIII. THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD.
Source. — Percy, Rcliques. The ballad form of the story has become
such a nursery classic that I had not the heart to "prose " it. As Mr.
Allingham remarks, it is the best of the ballads of the pedestrian
order.
Parallels.— The second of R. Yarrington's Two Lamentable Trage-
dies, 1601, has the same plot as the ballad. Several chapbooks have
been made out of it, some of them enumerated by Halliwell's Popular
Histories (Percy Soc.) No. 18. From one of these I am in the fortu-
nate position of giving the names of the dramatis persona: of this
domestic tragedy. Androgus was the wicked uncle, Pisaurus his
brother who married Eugenia, and their children in the wood were
Cassander and little Kate. The ruffians were appropriately named
Rawbones and Woudkill. According to a writer in 3 .Yc/V\ and
Queries, ix. 144, the traditional burial-place of the children is pointed
232 Notes and References
out in Norfolk. The ballad was known before Percy, as it is mentioned
in the Spectator, Nos. 80 and 179.
Remarks.— The only "fairy" touch— but what a touch ! — is the pall
•of leaves collected by the robins.
LXIX. THE HOBYAHS.
Source. — American Folk- Lore Journal, iii. 173, contributed by Mr.
5. V. Proudfit as current in a family deriving from Perth.
Remarks. — But for the assurance of the tale itself that Hobyahs are
no more, Mr. Batten's portraits of them would have convinced me
that they were the bogles or spirits of the comma bacillus. Mr.
Proudfit remarks that the cry " Look me " was very impressive.
LXX. A POTTLE O' BRAINS.
Source. — Contributed by Mrs. Balfour to Folk-Lore, II.
Parallels. — The fool's wife is clearly related to the Clever Lass of
" Gobborn Seer,'' where see notes.
Remarks. — The fool is obviously of the same family as he of the
•"Coat o' Clay:! (No. lix.), if he is not actually identical with him.
His adventures might be regarded as a sequel to the former ones.
The Noodle family is strongly represented in English folk-tales, which
would seem to confirm Carlvle's celebrated statistical remark.
LXXI. THE KING OF ENGLAND.
Source. — Mr. F. Hindes Groome, "In Gypsy Tents," told him by
John Roberts, a Welsh gypsy, with a few slight changes and omission
of passages insisting upon the gypsy origin of the three helpful
brothers.
Parallels. — The king and his three sons are familiar figures in
European marchcn. Slavonic parallels are enumerated by Leskien
Brugman in their Lithauische Marchen, notes on No. 11, p. 542. The
Sleeping Beauty is of course found in Perrault.
Remarks. — The tale is scarcely a good example for Mr. Hindes
Groome's contention (in Transactions Folk-Lore Congress] for
the diffusion of all folk-tales by means of gypsies as colporteurs.
This is merely a matter of evidence, and of evidence there is singularly
Notes and References 233
little, though it is indeed curious that one of Campbell's best equipped
informants should turn out to be a gypsy. Even this fact, however, is
not too well substantiated.
LXXII. KING JOHN AND THE ABBOT.
Source.—" Prosed" from the well-known ballad in Percy. I have
changed the first query : What am I worth? Answer: Twenty nine
pence — one less, I ween, than the Lord. This would have sounded
somewhat bold in prose.
Parallels. — Vincent of Beauvais has the story, but the English
version comes from the German Joe Miller, Pauli's Schimpf nn-.l
£rnsi, No. lv., p. 46, ed. Oesterley, where see his notes. The ques-
tion I have omitted exists there, and cannot have " independently
arisen." Pauli was a fifteenth century worthy or unworthy.
Remarks. — Riddles were once on a time serious things to meddle
with, as witness Samson and the Sphynx, and other instances duly
noted with his customary erudition by Prof. Child in his comments on
the ballad, English and Scotch Ballads, i. 403-14.
LXXIII. RUSHEN COATIE.
Source. — I have concocted this English, or rather Scotch, Cinderella
from the various versions given in Miss Cox's remarkable collection
of 345 variants of Cinderella (Folk-Lore Society, 1892); sec Parnlh-ls
for an enumeration of those occurring in the British Isles, I have
used Nos. 1-3, 8-10. I give my composite the title " Riishcn Coat it .
to differentiate it from any of the Scotch variants, and for the purposes
of a folk-lore experiment. If this book becomes generally used among
English-speaking peoples, it may possibly re-introduce this and other
tales among the folk. We should be able to trace this re-introduction
by the variation in titles. I have done the same with " Nix Nought
Nothing," "Molly Whuppie," and "Johnny Gloke."
Parallels. — Miss Cox's volume gives no less than 1 13 variants of
the pure type of Cinderella — her type A. " Cinderella, or the Fortu-
nate Marriage of a despised Scullery-maid by aid of an Aniin<il God-
mother through the Test of a Slipper'' -such might be the explanatory
title of a chapbook dealing with the pure type of Cinderella. Thi
represented in Miss Cox's book, so far as the British Isles are con-
Notes and References
cerned, by no less than seven variants, as follows : — (i) Dr. Blind, in
Archccological Review, iii. 24-7, "Ashpitell" (from neighbourhood of
Glasgow). (2) A. Lang, in Revue Celtiqne, t. iii., reprinted in " Folk-
Lore," September, 1890, " Rashin Coatie " (from Morayshire). (3) Mr.
Gregor, in Folk-Lore Journal, ii. 72-4 (from Aberdeenshire), " The
Red Calf" — all these in Lowland Scots. (4) Campbell, Popular Talcs,
No. xliii. ii. 286 seq., " The Sharp Grey Sheep." (5) Mr. Sinclair, in
Celtic Mag., xiii. 454-65, " Snow-white Maiden." (6) Mr. Macleod's
variant communicated through Mr. Nutt to Miss Cox's volume, p. 533;
and (7) Curtin, Myths of Ireland, pp. 78-92, " Fair, Brown, and
Trembling" — these four in Gaelic, the last in Erse. To these I would
add (8, 9) Chambers's two versions in Pop. Rhymes of Scotland, pp.
66-8, " Rashie Coat," though Miss Cox assimilates them to Type B.
ENGLISH VARIANTS OF CINDERELLA.
GREGOR.
Ill-treated heroine
(by parents).
Helpful animal
(red calf).
Spy on heroine.
Slaying of helpful
animal threatened
I leroine flight.
Heroine disguise
(rashin coatie).
Menial heroine.
LAXG.
Calf given by dying
mother.
Ill-treated heroine
(by stepmother
and sisters).
Heroine disguise
(rashin coatie).
Hearth abode.
CHAMBERS, Land II.
BLIND.
Heroine dislikes
husband.
Hen wife aid.
Countertasks.
Heroine disguise.
Heroine flight.
Menial heroine.
Magic dresses
( givrn by calf).
Mo-ting-place
( church ).
Might.
Lost shoe.
Shoe marriage test.
Mutilated foot
Oiousewile's daugh,
Mird witness.
I I M'l'y marriage.
I louse for red calf.
Helpful animal.
Slaying of helpful
animal.
Revivified bones. (Fairy) aid.
Help at grave.
Dinner cooked
(by helpful animal ).
Magic dresses.
Meeting-place
( church ).
Flight threefold.
l>o-,t shoe.
Sin »• marriage test.
Mutilated foot.
)
False bride.
Mini witness.
Happy marriage.
Magic dresses.
Meeting-place
(church).
Flight threefold.
Lost shoe.
Shoe marriage test.
Mutilated foot.
False bride.
Mird witness.
Happy marriage.
Ill-treated heroine
(by stepmother).
Menial heroine.
Helpful animal
(black sheep.).
Ear cornucopia.
Spy on heroine.
Slaying of helpful
animal
Old woman advice.
Revivified bones.
Task-performing
animal.
Meeting-place
(church).
Dresses (not magic)-
Flight twofold.
Lost shoe.
Shoe marriage test.
Mutilated foot.
False bride.
Bird witness (raven).
Happy marriage.
Notes and References
235
Catskin ; and (10) a variant of Dr. Blind's version, unknown to Miss
Cox, but given in 7 Notes and Queries, x. 463 (Dumbartonshire). Mi.
Clouston has remarks on the raven as omen-bird in his notes to Mrs.
Saxby's Birds of Omen in Shetland (privately printed, 1893).
Remarks. — In going over these various versions, the first and
perhaps most striking thing that comes out is the substantial agree-
ment of the variants in each lan^un^c. The English — i.e., Scotch,
variants go together; the Gaelic ones agree to differ from the
English. I can best display this important agreement and difference
by the accompanying two tables, which give, in parallel columns, M iss
Cox's abstracts of her tabulations, in which each incident is shortly
given in technical phraseology. It is practically impossible to use the
long tabulations for comparative purposes without some such shorthand.
CELTIC VARIANTS OF CINDERELLA.
MACLEOD.
Heroine, daughter
of sheep, king's
wife.
Spy on heroine.
CAMPBELL.
Ill-treated heroine
(by stepmother).
Menial heroine.
Helpful animal.
Spy on heroine.
Eye sleep threefold. Eye sleep.
Slaying of helpful
animal mother.
Revivified bones.
Magic dresses.
Meeting-place
(/east).
Flight threefold.
Slaying of helpful
animal.
Revivified bones.
Stepsister substi-
tute.
Golden shoe gift
( from hero ).
Meeting-place
(sermon).
Flight threefold.
Lost shoe (golden). Lost shoe.
Shoe marriage test. Shoe marriage test.
Mutilated foot.
Bird witness.
Happy marriage.
Mutilated foot.
False bride.
Bird witness.
Happy marriage.
I I KTIN.
Ill-treated her' line
(by elder sisters).
SINCLAIR.
Ill-treated heroine
(by stepmother
and sisters).
Menial heroine.
Helpful cantrips.
Magic dresses
( + starlings on
shoulders ).
Meeting-place
(church).
Flight twofold.
Lost shoe. Lost
Shoe marriage test. Shoe marriii-
MiMii.il l
Henwife aid.
Mii^ie dresses
(.honey-bin 1, ;
and stud).
Meeting-place
(church).
Flight threefold.
I Irrniue under
washtub.
Happy marriage.
Mutilated foot.
1 l.
marra
Substituted bridr. Sub.stituttd bride
(i Ide i istei >
Jonah heroine. Jonah hi
Three reappear- Three reappear-
ances, ances.
Reunion. Reunion.
Villain
236
Notes and References
Now, in the " English ;) versions there is practical unanimity in the
concluding portions of the tale. Magic dresses — Meeting-place
(Church) — Flight — Lost Shoe — Shoe Marriage-test — Mutilated foot-
False Bride — Bird witness — Happy Marriage, follow one another with
exemplary regularity in all four (six) versions.* The introductory
incidents vary somewhat. Chambers has evidently a maimed version
of the introduction of Catskin (see No. Ixxxiii.). The remaining three
enable us, however, to restore with some confidence the £/r-Cinderella
in English somewhat as follows : Helpful animal given by dying
mother — Ill-treated heroine — Menial Jieroinc — Ear cornucopia — Spy
on heroine — Slaying by lielpful animal — Tasks — Revivified bones. I
have attempted in my version to reconstruct the " English" Cinderella
according to these formula-. It will be observed that the helpful
animal is helpful in two ways — (a) in helping the heroine to perform
tasks ; (b) in providing her with magic dresses. It is the same with the
Grimms' Aschenputtel and other Continental variants.
Turning to the Celtic variants, these divide into two sets. Camp-
bell's and Macleod's versions are practically at one with the English
formula, the latter with an important variation which will concern us
later. But the ether two, Curtin's and Sinclair's, one collected in
Ireland and the other in Scotland, both continue the formula with the
conclusion of the Sea Maiden tale (on which see the notes of my Celtic
Fairy Talcs, No. xvii.). This is a specifically Celtic formula, and would
seem therefore to claim Cinderella for the Celts. But the welding of
of the Sea Maiden ending on to the Cinderella formula is clearly a
later and inartistic junction, and implies rather imperfect assimilation
of the Cinderella formula. To determine the question of origin we
must turn to the purer type given by the other two Celtic versions.
Campbell's tale can clearly lay no claim to represent the original
type of Cinderella. The golden shoes are a gift of the hero to the
heroine which destroys the whole point of the Shoe marriage-test,
and cannot have been in the original, wherever it originated. Mr.
Macleod's version, however, contains an incident which seems to
bring us nearer to the original form than any version contained in
Miss Cox's book. Throughout the variants it will be observed what
an important function is played by the helpful animal. This in some
of the versions is left as a legacy by the heroine's dying mother.
But in Mr. MacLeod's version the helpful animal, a sheep, is the
heroine's mother herself! This is indeed an archaic touch, which
* Chambers, II., consists entirely and solely of these incidents.
Notes and References 237
seems to hark back to primitive times and totemistic beliefs. And
more important still, it is a touch which vitalises the other variants in
which the helpful animal is rather dragged in by the horns. Mr. Nutt's
lucky find at the last moment seems to throw more light on the
origin of the tale than almost the whole of the remaining collection.
But does this find necessarily prove an original Celtic origin for
Cinderella ? Scarcely. It remains to be proved that this introductory
part of the story with helpful animal was necessarily part of the
original. Having regard to the feudal character underlying the whole
conception, it remains possible that the earlier part was ingeniously
dovetailed on to the latter from some pre-existing and more archaic
tale, perhaps that represented by the Grimms' " One Eyed, Two
Eyes, and Three Eyes." The possibility of the introduction of an
archaic formula which had become a convention of folk-telling cannot
be left out of account.
The "Youngest-best" formula which occurs in Cinderella, and on
which Mr. Lang laid much stress in his treatment of the subject in
his Perrault as a survival of the old tenure of "junior right,"
does not throw much light on the subject. Mr. Ralston, in the
Ninetecntli Century, 1879, was equally unenlightening with his sun-
myths.
LXXIV. KING O' CATS.
Source. — I have taken a point here and a point there from the
various English versions mentioned in the next section. I have
expanded the names, so as to make a jingle from the Dildrom and
Doldrum of Harland.
Parallels. — Five variants of this quaint legend have been collected
in England : (i) Halliwell, Pop. Rhymes, 167, "Molly Dixon";(2)
Choice Notes — Folk-Lore, p. 73, " Colman Grey " ; (3) Folk-Lore
Journal, ii. 22, " King o' the Cats " ; (4) Folk- Lore — England
(Gibbings), "Johnny Reed's Cat" ; (5) Harland and Wilkinson,
Lancashire Legends, p. 13, " Dildrum Doldrum." Sir F. Palgrave
gives a Danish parallel; cp. Halliwell, I.e.
Remarks. — An interesting example of the spread and development of
a simple anecdote throughout England. Here again we can scarcely
imagine more than a single origin for the tale which is, in its way, as
weird and fantastic as E. A. Poe.
238
Notes and References
LXXV. TAMLANE.
c. — From Scott's Minstrelsy, with touches from the other
variants given by Prof. Child in his Eng. and Scotch Ballads, i.
335-SS-
Parallels. — Prof. Child gives no less than nine versions in his
masterly edition, I.e., besides another fragment " Burd Ellen and Young
Tamlane," i. 258. He parallels the marriage of Peleus and Thetis in
Apollodorus III., xiii. 5, 6, which still persists in modern Greece as a
Cretan ballad.
Remarks. — Prof. Child remarks that dipping into water or milk is
necessary before transformation can take place, and gives examples,
I.e. 338, to which may be added that of Catskin (see Notes infra],
He gives as the reason why the Elf-queen would have " ta'en out
Tamlane:s two grey eyne," so that henceforth he should not be able to
see the fairies. Was it not rather that he should not henceforth see
Burd Janet? — a subtle touch of jealousy. On dwelling in fairyland
Mr. Hartland has a monograph in his Science of Fairy Tales, pp.
161-254.
LXXVI. THE STARS IN THE SKY.
Source. — Mrs. Balfour's old nurse, now in New Zealand. The
original is in broad Scots, which I have anglicised.
Parallels. — The tradition is widespread that at the foot of the
rainbow treasure is to be found ; cf. Mr. John Payne's Sir Edward's
Questing in his " Songs of Life and Death."
Remarks. — The " sell " at the end is scarcely after the manner of
the folk, and various touches throughout indicate a transmission
through minds Minted with culture and introspection.
LXXV 1 1. NEWS !
Source. — Bell's Speaker.
Parallels. — Jacques de Vitry, Excmpla, eel. Crane, No. ccv., a
servant being asked the news by his master returned from a
pilgrimage to Compostella, says the dog is lame, and goes on to
explain : " \Vhile the dog was running near the mule, the mule
kicked him and broke his own halter and ran through the house,
scattering the fire with his hoofs, and burning down your house with
your wife.:; It occurs even earlier in Alfonsi's Disciplina Clcricalis,
Notes and References 239
No. xxx., at beginning of the twelfth century, among the l-\il>Ii,u< \ ,
and in Bebel, Wcrke, iii., 71, whence probably it was rcintrod
into England. See 1'rof. Crane's note <nt /(>c.
Remarks. — Almost all Alfonsi's cxcmpla are from the East. It is
characteristic that the German version finishes up with a loss of
honour, the English climax being loss of fortune.
LXXVIII. PUDDOCK, MOUSIE AND RATION.
Source. — Kirkpatrick Sharpe's Ballad Book, 1824, slightly angli-
cised.
Parallels. — Mr. Bullen, in his Lyrics from Elizabethan Son^ li<><>k<,
p. 202, gives a version "The Marriage of the Frog and the Mouse ':
from T. Ravenscroft's Melismaia, 1611. The nursery rhyme of the
frog who would a-wooing go is clearly a variant of this, and has tlniN
a sure pedigree of three hundred years ; cf. " Frog husband " in my List
of Incidents, or notes to "The Well of the World's End" (No. xli.i.
LXXIX. LITTLE BULL-CALF.
Source. — Gypsy Lore Journal, iii., one of a number of tales told " In
a Tent" to Mr. John Sampson. 1 have re-spelt and euphemiscd the
bladder.
Parallels. — The Perseus and Andromeda incident is frequent in
folk tales ; see my List of Incidents sub -t>oce " Fight with Dragon.''
" Cheese squeezing," as a test of prowess, is also common, as in " Jack
the Giant Killer" and elsewhere (Kohler,/«//rtof//, vii. 252).
LXXX. THE WEE WEE MANNIE.
Source. — From Mrs. Balfour's old nurse. I have again anglicised.
Parallels. — This is one of the class of accumulative stories like the
Old Woman who led her Pig /<> M,trket (No. v.). The class is well
represented in these isles.
LXXXI. HABETROT AND SCANTLIE MAI'..
So it n-e— Henderson's Folk-Lore oj Northern Counties, pp. 25:-
of Folk-Lore Society's edition. I have- abridged and to some extent
re-written.
Parallels.— This in its early part is a parallel to the "Tom Tit
240 Notes and References
Tot," which see. The latter part is more novel, and is best compared
with the Grimms' Spinners.
Remarks. — Henderson makes out of Habetrot a goddess of the
spinning-wheel, but with very little authority as it seems to me.
LXXXII. OLD MOTHER WIGGLE WAGGLE.
Source. — I have inserted into Halliwell's version oae current in Mr.
Batten's family, except that I have substituted " Wiggle- Waggle " for
" Slipper-Slopper." The two versions supplement one another.
Remarks.— This is a pure bit of animal satire, which might have
come from a rural Jefferies with somewhat more of wit than the native
writer.
LXXXIII. CATSKIN.
Source. — From the chapbook reprinted in H alii well I have intro-
duced the demand for magic dresses from Chambers's " Rashie Coat,"
into which it had clearly been interpolated from some version of
Catskin.
Parallels. — Miss Cox's admirable volume of variants of Cinderella
also contains seventy-three variants of Catskin, besides thirteen
" indeterminate "' ones which approximate to that type. Of these
eighty-six, five exist in the British Isles, two chap-books given in
Halliwell and in Dixon's Songs of English Peasantry, two by Campbell.
Nos. xiv. and xixvr., " The King who wished to marry his Daughter,''
and one by Kennedy's Fireside Stories, " The Princess in the Cat-
skins." Goldsmith knew the story by the name of "Catskin," as he
refers to it in the Vicar. There is a fragment from Cornwall in Folk-
Lore, i. App. p. 149.
Remarks.—" Catskin, or the Wandering Gentlewomen,'' now exists
in English only in two chapbook ballads. But Chambers's first variant
of "Rashie Coat r begins with the Catskin formula in a euphemised
form. The full formula may be said to run in abbreviated form—
Death-bed -premise — Deceased wife's resemblance marriage test — Un-
natiiral father (desiring to marry his own daughter) — Helpjul animal
Counter Tasks — Magic dresses — Heroine fliglit — Heroine disguise —
Menial Jieroinc — Meeting-place — Token objects named — Threefold
flight — Loresick prince — Recognition ring — Happy marriage. Of
these the chapbook versions contain scarcely anything of .the opening
Notes and References 241
motifs. Yet they existed in England, for Miss Isabella Barclay, in a
variant which Miss Cox has overlooked (Folk-Lore, i. I.e.], remembers
having heard the Unnatural Father incident from a Cornish servant-
girl. Campbell's two versions also contain the incident, from which
one of them recdves its narre. One wonders in what form Mr.
Burchell knew Catskin, for "he gave the [Primrose] children the Buck
of Beverland,* with the history of Patient Grissel, the adventures of
Catskin and the Fair Rosamond's Bower" (Vicar of Wakeficld, 1766,
c. vi.). Pity that "Goldy" did not tell the story himself, as he had
probably heard it in Ireland, where Kennedy gives a poor version in
his Fireside Stories.
Yet, imperfect as the chap-book versions are, they ytt retain not a
few archaic touches. It is clear from them, at any rate, that the
Heroine was at one time transformed into a Cat. For when the
basin of water is thrown in her face she " shakes her ears "just as a
cat would. Again, before putting on her magic dresses she bathes in
a pellucid pool. Now, Professor Child has pointed out in his notes
on Tamlane and elsewhere (English and Scotch Ballads, i. 338;
ii. 505 ; iii. 505) that dipping into water or milk is necessary before
transformation can take place. It is clear, therefore, that Catskin was
originally transformed into an animal by the spirit of her mother, also
transformed into an animal.
If I understand Mr. Nutt rightly (Folk-Lore, iv. 135 sey.), he is in-
clined to think, from the evidence of the hero-tales which have the
unsavoury motif 'of the Unnatural Father, that the original home of the
story was England, where most of the hero-tales locate the incident.
I would merely remark on this that there are only very slight traces
of the story in these islands nowadays, while it abounds in Itaiy,
which possesses one almost perfect version of the formula (Miss Cox,
No. 142, from Sardinia).
Mr. Newell, on the other hand (American Folk-Lore Journal, ii. 160^
considers Catskin the earliest of the three types contained in Miss
Cox's book, and considers that Cinderella \\as deiived from this as a
softening of the original. His chief reason appeats to be the earlier
appearance of Catskin in Straparola,f 1550, a hundred years earlier
than Cinderella in Basile, 1636. This appears to be a somewhat
insufficient basis for such a conclusion. Nor is there; after all, so
* Who knows the Buck of Beverland nowadays ?
f It is practically in DCS 1'cricr's Rtcrfatiomt i
242 Notes and References
close a relation between the two types in their full development as to
necessitate the derivation oi one from the other.
LXXXIV. STUPID'S CRIES.
Source. — Folk- Lore Record, iii. 152-5, by the veteran Prof. Stephens.
I have changed "dog and bitch" of original to " dog and cat,'' and
euphemised the liver and lights.
Parallels. — Prof. Stephens gives parallels from Denmark, Germany,
(the Grimms' Up Riesensohn} and Ireland (Kennedy, Fireside Stories,
P- 3°).
LXXXV. THE LAMBTON WORM.
Source. — Henderson's Folk-Lore of Northern Counties, pp. 287-9,
I have re-writteri, as the original was rather high falutin'.
Parallels. — Worms or dragons form the subject of the whole of the
eighth chapter of Henderson. " The Laidly Worm of Spindleston
Heugh " (No. xxxiii.) also requires the milk of nine kye for its daily
rations, and cow's milk is the ordinary provender of such kittle
cattle (Grimm's Teut. Myth, 687), the mythological explanation being
that cows = the clouds and the dragon = the storm. Jephthavows are
also frequent in folk-tales : Miss Cox gives many examples in her
Cinderella, p. 511.
Remarks. — Nine generations back from the last of the Lambtons,
Henry Lambton, M.P., ob. 1761, reaches Sir John Lambton, Knight
of Rhodes, and several instances of violent death occur in the interim.
Dragons are possibly survivals into historic times of antedeluvian
monsters, or reminiscences of classical legend (Perseus, etc.). Who
shall say which is which, as Mr. Lang would observe.
LXXXVI. WISE MEN OF GOTHAM.
Source. — The chap-book contained in Mr. Hazlitt's Shakesperian
Jest Book, vol. iii. 1 have selected the incidents and modernised the
spelling ; otherwise the droll remains as it was told in Elizabethan
times.
Parallels.— Mr. Clouston's Book of Noodles \s little else than a series
of parallels to our droll. See my list of incidents under the titles,
" One cheese after another," " Hare postman," " Not counting self,"
" Drowning eels." In mobt cases Mr. Clouston quotes Eastern
analogies.
Notes and References 243
Remarks. — All countries have their special crop of fools, IJa.-oti.ins
among the Greeks, the people of Hums among the Persians (how
appropriate !), the Schildburgers in Germany, and so on. Gotham is
the English representative, and as witticisms call to mind well-known
wits, so Gotham has had heaped on its head all the stupidities of
the Indo-European world. For there can be little doubt that these
drolls have spread from East to West. This "Not counting self"
is in the Gooroo Paramastan, the cheeses "one after another" in
M. Riviere's collection of Kabyle tales, and so on. It is indeed
curious how little originality there is among mankind in the matter
of stupidity. Even such an inventive genius as the late Mr. Sothern
had considerable difficulty in inventing a new " sell."
LXXXVII. PRINCESS OF CANTERBURY.
Source.— I have inserted into the old chap-book version of the Four
Kings of Colchester, Canterbury,^., an incident entitled by Halliwell
" The Three Questions."
Parallels.— The "riddle bride wager" is a frequent incident of folk
tales (see my List of Incidents) ; the sleeping tabu of the latter part
is not so common, though it occurs, e.g., in the Grimms' "Twelve
Princesses," who wear out their shoes with dancing.
CENTRAL CIRCULATION
CHILDREN'S ROOM
PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.
LONDON AND EDINBURGH
rar
Live Music
Archive
Librivox
Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland
Museum of Art
Internet
Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American
Libraries
TV News
Understanding
9/11